{"id":23419,"date":"2014-03-18T17:05:56","date_gmt":"2014-03-19T03:05:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=23419"},"modified":"2021-11-02T14:48:57","modified_gmt":"2021-11-03T00:48:57","slug":"50-years-of-accessible-affordable-higher-education","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2014\/03\/18\/50-years-of-accessible-affordable-higher-education\/","title":{"rendered":"50 years of accessible, affordable higher education"},"content":{"rendered":"<span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Reading time: <\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> 2<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minutes<\/span><\/span><p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"676\" height=\"380\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/4AOnLUdFnLE\" title=\"Youtube video player\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>There was a time in <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Hawai&#699;i<\/span> when going to college was reserved for only an elite few.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Going to college was something that maybe only the top part of high school class did,&rdquo; explains  Univerity of <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Hawai&#699;i<\/span> Vice President for Community Colleges John Morton. &rdquo;The likelihood that you as an adult would go back to college was rare.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>That changed in 1964 when the state legislature passed a law that created the <a href=\"http:\/\/uhcc.hawaii.edu\/\">University of <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Hawai&#699;i<\/span> Community College System<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;What the law did back in 1964 was create that opportunity for anyone to be able to go on to higher education, reap those benefits,&rdquo; continutes Morton. &ldquo;As a result, we have a better <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Hawai&#699;i<\/span>.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>2014 marked the 50th anniversary of the passage of that law and the creation of the <abbr>糖心Vlog官方CC<\/abbr> System that consists of seven community colleges across the state. A yearlong celebration kicked off in March at the annual <a href=\"http:\/\/uhcc.hawaii.edu\/collegeday\/index.php\">College Day<\/a> at the state capitol.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_23441\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-23441\" style=\"width: 400px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/uhcc-50th-1.jpg\" alt=\"educational exhibit\" width=\"400\" height=\"242\" class=\"size-full wp-image-23441\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/uhcc-50th-1.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/uhcc-50th-1-260x157.jpg 260w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-23441\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><abbr>糖心Vlog官方<\/abbr> <span aria-label=\"Kapiolani\">Kapi&#699;olani<\/span>&#8217;s marsbot display at College Day 2014 at the  State Capitol<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_23442\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-23442\" style=\"width: 400px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/uhcc-50th-2.jpg\" alt=\"lawmakers and educators\" width=\"400\" height=\"234\" class=\"size-full wp-image-23442\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/uhcc-50th-2.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/uhcc-50th-2-260x152.jpg 260w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-23442\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Hawai&#699;i<\/span> Senate certificate presentation in recognition of the 50th anniversary of the <abbr>糖心Vlog官方<\/abbr> Community Colleges<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The event started with an oli, or chant, followed by a symbolic moment of how higher education can open the door to a happier and more prosperous life: the chancellors of each college each opened a door representing their schools as students walked through.<\/p>\n<p>Each college set up multiple hands-on activities and presentations representing various programs. Lawmakers also presented <abbr>糖心Vlog官方<\/abbr> with commemorative certificates in recognition of what the <abbr>糖心Vlog官方<\/abbr> community colleges have given over the decades and continue to give to thousands of <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Hawai&#699;i<\/span> citizens: affordable, quality, higher education.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;We believe strongly that higher education is good not just for the individual, but good for society,&rdquo; Morton says emphatically. &ldquo;People get good jobs, they contribute, they become part of the fabric of this community.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p><abbr>糖心Vlog官方<\/abbr> makes that opportunity accessible with a community college on <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Hawai&#699;i<\/span> Island, Maui, <span aria-label=\"Kauai\">Kaua&#699;i<\/span> and four on <span aria-label=\"Oahu\">O&#699;ahu<\/span>. The schools offer a pathway to <abbr>糖心Vlog官方<\/abbr> M&#257;noa and other four-year institutions while offering degrees and certificates in a wide range of fields from culinary to construction, auto mechanics to fashion.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;We are a major provider of the skilled workforce here in <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Hawai&#699;i<\/span>, from some of the trade to some of the highest technical fields there are but like I say, it&#8217;s anybody,&rdquo; according to Morton. &ldquo;We actually saw a graduate last year who started in 1965 and finally graduated this year, a lifelong dream come true and that&#8217;s what we are all about, creating those dreams.&rdquo;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>College Day at the <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Hawai&#699;i<\/span> State Capitol celebrated the 50th anniversary of the University of <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Hawai&#699;i<\/span> Community College System.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,12],"tags":[61,62,63,64,65,71,60,947,66],"class_list":["post-23419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academic-news","category-video","tag-hawaii-community-college","tag-honolulu-community-college","tag-kapiolani-community-college","tag-kauai-community-college","tag-leeward-community-college","tag-uh-community-colleges","tag-maui-college","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\/23419","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=23419"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23419\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":151217,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23419\/revisions\/151217"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}