{"id":169015,"date":"2022-11-14T16:36:26","date_gmt":"2022-11-15T02:36:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=169015"},"modified":"2022-11-14T16:36:26","modified_gmt":"2022-11-15T02:36:26","slug":"windward-cc-freshman-enrollment-jumps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2022\/11\/14\/windward-cc-freshman-enrollment-jumps\/","title":{"rendered":"Windward CC<\/abbr> freshman enrollment jumps by 20%"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>

\"Three<\/p>\n

This fall, Windward Community College<\/a> increased freshman enrollment by 20% over 2021, welcoming 398 freshmen to the Kāneʻohe<\/span> campus. Moreover, there was a 71% spike in male freshmen and 40% jump in Native Hawaiian freshmen students. There was also a 63% rise in students coming directly from Hawai\u02bbi public high schools.<\/p>\n

Some of these impressive gains can be attributed to the Hoʻolei<\/span> Tuition Award program<\/a>, which provides full tuition at the college for the first year—fall and spring semesters—for 2022 graduates of public and charter schools in Windward Oʻahu<\/span>. The award offers tuition savings of up to $3,144, and, for many, a chance to attend college. More than 270 freshmen received a Hoʻolei<\/span> award.<\/p>\n

“The money I received from scholarships gave me more freedom in how I spend my time concentrating on my studies, taking advantage of student life, and forging bonds with friends and coworkers,” said Paipai o Koʻolau<\/span> scholarship recipient Duane “Nalu” Diaz<\/strong>, who is on his way from Windward CC<\/abbr> to ÌÇÐÄVlog¹Ù·½<\/abbr> M\u0101noa<\/a> for a degree in social work. “Like many students, without financial aid from a third party I would struggle to pay for the degree I need to enter the workforce and contribute to society.”<\/p>\n

\"Duane
Duane “Nalu” Diaz<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Hoʻolei<\/span> Tuition Award program and the Paipai o Koʻolau<\/span> program were created with grants from the Harold K.L. Castle Foundation<\/a>. They allow students to prioritize college despite a difficult economy and financial pressures.<\/p>\n

“The Harold K.L. Castle Foundation\u2019s generosity allowed students to choose college when otherwise the cost and the need to work would have made it impossible,” said Windward CC<\/abbr> Chancellor Ardis Eschenberg<\/strong>. “Scholarships change lives for our students and trajectories for their families.”<\/p>\n

During the last academic year, Windward CC<\/abbr> Early College counselors made personal visits to high schools to deliver information to high school seniors about scholarships, financial aid and on- and off-campus jobs. Windward public and public charter high schools helped get information to students and encouraged them to apply.<\/p>\n

Eschenberg said, “The Harold K.L. Castle Foundation is helping Windward CC<\/abbr> grow a healthier student population, even more, they are helping our community to grow in economic and social mobility, and giving opportunities where there were none.”<\/p>\n

Windward CC<\/abbr> announced a $1-million fundraising drive<\/a> to support student scholarships at a 50th anniversary kickoff event<\/a> in September. The endowed fund will generate investment income that will enable 13 students to attend Windward CC<\/abbr> tuition-free every year in perpetuity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Free tuition for one year helps hundreds of public school students attend Windward CC<\/abbr>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[572,71,947,66],"class_list":["post-169015","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academic-news","tag-scholarship","tag-uh-community-colleges","tag-uh-system","tag-windward-community-college","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169015","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=169015"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169015\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":169032,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169015\/revisions\/169032"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=169015"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=169015"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=169015"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}