Cost of Attending College in Hawaii: Tuition and Living Costs

UH Manoa: Full Cost of Attendance for 2025-2026

UH Manoa publishes a full cost of attendance budget covering tuition, fees, books, housing, food, transportation and personal expenses, beyond the sticker tuition number alone. According to Manoa's 2025-2026 cost of attendance , tuition runs $11,520 a year for Hawaii residents and $33,552 for nonresidents, both plus $882 in mandatory fees and roughly $1,404 for books and supplies.

Housing drives most of the swing between budgets. On-campus housing adds about $7,852 a year, and off-campus housing runs close to $13,558, against $4,520 if you live with parents. Food follows a similar pattern, with budgeted food costs running higher on campus with a meal plan than off campus living independently.

Graduate School Costs at Manoa

Graduate tuition at Manoa runs on a separate schedule from undergraduate. For a typical 8-credit full-time graduate load, Manoa's 2025-2026 graduate cost of attendance lists $10,400 a year in tuition for residents and $22,432 for nonresidents, both plus $902 in fees.

UH Hilo and UH West Oahu: Lower-Cost Four-Year Options

UH Hilo and UH West Oahu charge less than Manoa across the board. UH Hilo's 2025-2026 schedule lists resident tuition at $312 per credit, or $3,744 a semester full-time, and nonresident tuition at $852 per credit, or $10,224 a semester, according to UH Hilo's tuition schedule . That works out to roughly $7,488 a year in resident tuition and $20,448 for nonresidents.

UH West Oahu runs close to the same tuition level. Its 2025-2026 cost of attendance lists $7,488 in annual resident tuition and $20,448 for nonresidents, plus $240 in fees. Total budgets land at $22,862 for residents living with parents and $33,530 living off campus, versus $35,822 and $46,490 for nonresidents in the same housing situations.

Nonresidents from Western Undergraduate Exchange states get a break at UH Hilo, paying 150% of the resident rate, about $468 a credit, instead of the full nonresident price.

Community College Costs

UH's 7 community colleges cost far less per credit than any four-year campus. At Kapiolani Community College, 2026-2027 tuition runs $131 a credit for residents and $345 a credit for nonresidents, according to Kapiolani's tuition page . A full-time resident student taking 30 credits over fall and spring pays around $3,930 a year in tuition before fees, a fraction of any four-year campus. Nonresidents pay roughly $10,350 a year at the same course load. UH sets tuition centrally across its 7 community colleges through one board-approved schedule, so rates run close to this figure system-wide, though exact fees differ slightly by campus. Community college fees add a few hundred dollars a year on top of tuition, covering student activities, technology and health services, and the exact amount varies by campus.

Hawaii Promise closes most of that remaining gap for qualifying residents, covering up to 95% of tuition, fees and books on top of federal Pell Grant money.

Private Universities

Hawaii's private options, including Hawaii Pacific University, Chaminade University of Honolulu, and Brigham Young University-Hawaii, set their own tuition independent of the state system. Sticker tuition at a private Hawaii college typically runs above UH Manoa's nonresident rate before any institutional scholarship is applied. Check each school's published cost of attendance and net price calculator directly before comparing, since sticker prices at private colleges rarely match what most students pay after institutional aid.

Ways to Lower These Numbers

Your residency status and choice of campus matter more than your major when it comes to sticker price. Establishing Hawaii residency, or qualifying under the high school graduate exception, cuts your tuition by roughly $22,000 a year at Manoa alone. Starting at a community college before transferring saves thousands more in tuition during your first two years, since credits transfer directly into a UH bachelor's program. A resident student at UH Hilo or West Oahu already pays about $4,000 less a year in tuition than at Manoa, and a WUE-eligible nonresident at Hilo pays roughly $11,232 a year instead of $20,448, cutting the nonresident premium by more than half.

File the FAFSA regardless of your income level. It determines eligibility for Hawaii Promise, the Manoa Opportunity Grant, and federal Pell and SEOG funding, any of which reduces the totals in this guide.