It’s not hard to find people in Laie, Kahuku, and Hau’ula who are frustrated with BYU-Hawaii. Most of the controversy surrounds the school’s plans for growth and the impacts development in Laie will have on the broader North Shore community. I have asked many locals to explain their feelings about this to me. One of the most consistent themes in these conversations is that so many people on the North Shore oppose the school’s expansion because those who benefit from it are outsiders from the mainland or countries far across the sea. One man was particularly blunt: “Who are these new students coming to BYU-Hawaii? They are not Hawaiian—they are all Chinese!”
This man was not the first (or the last) to suggest to me that our student body is less Hawaiian than it used to be. The idea that the percentage of Hawaiians attending the school has fallen as the student body has expanded over the last few years (or alternately, since President Wheelwright became the university’s President) is a common one. But is it true? Let us take a look at the numbers:
The answer to our question is unambiguous: the percentage of the BYU-Hawaii student body that comes from Hawaii has dropped over the last five years. When I first came to BYU-Hawaii in 2009 approximately one in every six of my classmates was from Hawaii. Now only one in eleven of my classmates can make the same claim!
Interestingly, the percentage of Hawaiian students at BYU-Hawaii is not shrinking because the student body is getting larger and all of the extra spots are going to foreigners or haoles. What we are seeing is an absolute decrease in the number of the Hawaiian students at the university:
Interestingly, the percentage of Hawaiian students at BYU-Hawaii is not shrinking because the student body is getting larger and all of the extra spots are going to foreigners or haoles. What we are seeing is an absolute decrease in the number of the Hawaiian students at the university:
According to Institutional Research, both the Fall 2009 and Winter 2014 semesters saw 2,512 students enroll full time at the university. The population of the school was exactly the same during both semesters, but in 2014 the number of Hawaiian students enrolled in the university was almost half of that enrolled five years earlier.
We see a similar picture when we look at the percentage of students who identify their ancestry as Hawaiian or part Hawaiian:
We see a similar picture when we look at the percentage of students who identify their ancestry as Hawaiian or part Hawaiian:
As the graphs above show, the percentage of students at BYU-Hawaii who claim Hawaiian ancestry in Winter 2014 is half of the number that claimed Hawaiian ancestry five years ago. In contrast, the percentage of white, Asian, and other Pacific Islander students at the university has stayed constant over the same time period.
It is easy to be misled by these figures, however. When I asked the head of BYU-Hawaii’s Admissions department, James Faustino, about these numbers he noted that they only show total enrollment, but not students admitted. The school has complete control over who it admits and who it does not; it does not have control over how long students choose to stay here. If you look at students admitted to BYU-Hawaii a very different picture emerges:
It is easy to be misled by these figures, however. When I asked the head of BYU-Hawaii’s Admissions department, James Faustino, about these numbers he noted that they only show total enrollment, but not students admitted. The school has complete control over who it admits and who it does not; it does not have control over how long students choose to stay here. If you look at students admitted to BYU-Hawaii a very different picture emerges:
In 2009 forty-four students from Hawaii were admitted to the school as freshmen; this year just under eighty were admitted! According to Faustino, the school has made a concentrated effort to “ramp up” the number of Hawaiian students admitted to the university, through open houses across the state and dual enrollment classes for local high school seniors over the last three years. The fruits of this effort can be seen in the increased number of Hawaiian students that have enrolled as freshmen at BYU-Hawaii every year.
The number of Hawaiian freshmen admitted to BYU-Hawaii has doubled at the same time the total number of Hawaiian students has been halved. This suggests that the real story is retention. If BYU-Hawaii has less Hawaiian students than before, it is because less Hawaiian students are choosing to finish their undergraduate degree at BYU-Hawaii. For whatever reason, more Hawaiian students are transferring to different schools or leaving the college scene altogether than before.
Verdict: Community members’ claim that the number of Hawaiian students attending the university has dropped is correct. There has been a clear and unambiguous decline in the number of Hawaiian students attending BYU-Hawaii. The drop is seen whether we define “Hawaiian” as someone from the state of Hawaii or as someone with Hawaiian ancestry. In both relative and absolute terms, BYU-Hawaii is a less Hawaiian campus than it was five years ago. However, this is not because less Hawaiians are applying or being admitted to the university, but because more and more Hawaiian students are leaving after a few semesters at the school.
[1] All data except the table provided by the admissions Department is taken from BYU-Hawaii Institutional Research, “Quick Facts” summary page (accessed 10 October 2014). http://ir.byuh.edu/quickfacts. The figures used in this column were created by The Student Voice. The number of Hawaiian students attending each semester was calculated by multiplying the percentage of Hawaiian students in attendance with the total enrolled student body of the same semester.
The number of Hawaiian freshmen admitted to BYU-Hawaii has doubled at the same time the total number of Hawaiian students has been halved. This suggests that the real story is retention. If BYU-Hawaii has less Hawaiian students than before, it is because less Hawaiian students are choosing to finish their undergraduate degree at BYU-Hawaii. For whatever reason, more Hawaiian students are transferring to different schools or leaving the college scene altogether than before.
Verdict: Community members’ claim that the number of Hawaiian students attending the university has dropped is correct. There has been a clear and unambiguous decline in the number of Hawaiian students attending BYU-Hawaii. The drop is seen whether we define “Hawaiian” as someone from the state of Hawaii or as someone with Hawaiian ancestry. In both relative and absolute terms, BYU-Hawaii is a less Hawaiian campus than it was five years ago. However, this is not because less Hawaiians are applying or being admitted to the university, but because more and more Hawaiian students are leaving after a few semesters at the school.
[1] All data except the table provided by the admissions Department is taken from BYU-Hawaii Institutional Research, “Quick Facts” summary page (accessed 10 October 2014). http://ir.byuh.edu/quickfacts. The figures used in this column were created by The Student Voice. The number of Hawaiian students attending each semester was calculated by multiplying the percentage of Hawaiian students in attendance with the total enrolled student body of the same semester.