Hawaii student and vocational grants: Hawaiʻi Promise, UH grants, Pell and WIOA (2026-27)

Hawaiʻi Promise at the seven UH Community Colleges

Hawaiʻi Promise is a “last dollar” grant for students at Hawaiʻi CC, Honolulu CC, Kapiʻolani CC, Kauaʻi CC, Leeward CC, UH Maui College and Windward CC. It covers direct education costs that federal, state and campus aid leave unpaid ⁠¹. For award purposes, direct costs are tuition, fees, books and supplies, plus a transportation allowance of $225 per semester ⁠⁴. Resident tuition for fall 2026 and spring 2027 is $131 per credit, so a full-time 12-credit load runs $1,572 a semester before fees ⁠⁵.

To qualify you must ⁠¹⁠²:

• qualify for Hawaiʻi resident tuition
• file the FAFSA and accept all grants and scholarships you are offered that do not have to be repaid
• enroll in at least six credits per semester in a UHCC degree or certificate program that is eligible for financial aid
• keep satisfactory academic progress, including at least a 2.0 GPA
• have unmet direct-cost need after other aid

There is no separate Promise application. You are considered automatically when the college receives your FAFSA, and the award shows up in your aid package ⁠¹. Amounts depend on funding, your enrollment level and your other resources ⁠².

Source: UH annual report to the 2026 Legislature, awards as of November 18, 2025 ⁠¹. The Legislature appropriated $5.529 million and campuses added $0.163 million.

Promise is not only for Pell recipients. In 2024-25, 22% of recipients did not get a Pell Grant, the average recipient’s Student Aid Index (SAI) was 4,402, and their average family adjusted gross income was $62,456 ⁠¹. If your SAI is too high for Pell but you still cannot cover tuition and books, file anyway.

What Act 235 changed for Hawaiʻi Promise in 2026

Until 2026, Promise was calculated after every other grant and scholarship, so a private scholarship could reduce your Promise award dollar for dollar. Governor Josh Green signed HB 2338 as Act 235 on July 13, 2026. According to the governor’s office, the act sets Promise awards at 95% of a student’s unmet direct educational expenses and stops other grants and scholarships from reducing the award, so that money can go toward housing, food and transportation instead ⁠³. The release does not give an effective date. Ask your campus aid office whether your 2026-27 package or only your 2027-28 package uses the new formula.

Four-year UH campuses: the Mānoa Opportunity Grant and B Plus

Hawaiʻi Promise does not pay at UH Mānoa, UH Hilo or UH West Oʻahu. At those campuses the main need-based grant beyond Pell is the campus Opportunity Grant. Community colleges also award a UH Opportunity Grant to students enrolled at least half time, but funds are limited ⁠⁴.

UH Mānoa publishes the clearest terms. The Mānoa Opportunity Grant pays up to $5,000, depending on the tuition you are charged and your enrollment ⁠⁶. Undergraduates must be seeking a first bachelor’s degree and take at least six Mānoa credits that count toward the degree. Awards are prorated below full time, and courses at other UH campuses do not count toward your enrollment ⁠⁶. Preference goes to Hawaiʻi residents who meet the February 1 FAFSA priority date. Students paying through the Western Undergraduate Exchange or a military tuition exemption are not eligible ⁠⁶. Mānoa also offers a Pacific Islander Opportunity Grant of up to $4,000 for undergraduates from Pacific jurisdictions without a public bachelor’s-granting university who pay 150% of resident tuition ⁠⁶.

The State of Hawaiʻi B Plus Scholarship, created by Act 178 of 2005, is a need-based award for Hawaiʻi public high school graduates ⁠⁸. You need:

• a cumulative high school GPA of 3.0 or higher
• a rigorous high school curriculum or a Board of Education Recognition Diploma
• need shown on the FAFSA
• Hawaiʻi resident tuition status
• full-time freshman enrollment in the fall right after graduation

You can renew it for three more years at a four-year campus or one more year at a community college with a 2.0 college GPA, if funding allows ⁠⁸. UH sets the award amount each year, and it cannot exceed your cost of attendance ⁠⁸. Native Hawaiian students can also be considered for the Native Hawaiian Tuition Waiver and the Second Century Scholars Grant, which are based on ancestry, need and at least half-time enrollment ⁠⁴.

Students who cannot file the FAFSA in Hawaiʻi

Hawaiʻi has no state alternative to the FAFSA like Texas’s TASFA. Hawaiʻi Promise, B Plus and the Mānoa Opportunity Grant all require the FAFSA ⁠²⁠⁶⁠⁸. UH Mānoa says international students and students with Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) cannot get federal student aid, and it points them to outside scholarships and their academic departments ⁠⁷. The main route left is the UH System Common Scholarship Application, which recommends but does not require the FAFSA. For 2027-28 it is due March 1, 2027 at 4:00 p.m. HST, and letters of recommendation are due March 8, 2027 ⁠⁹. Before counting on any need-based UH grant, ask the admissions office how your residency for tuition purposes will be classified.

Pell in 2026-27, and why Workforce Pell has not reached Hawaiʻi yet

The federal Pell Grant pays $740 to $7,395 for the July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2027 award year ⁠¹⁰. In 2024-25, 78% of Hawaiʻi Promise recipients also received Pell ⁠¹.

Workforce Pell extends Pell to programs of 8 to under 15 weeks with 150 to 599 clock hours. A program must be certified by the governor, approved by the U.S. Department of Education, and have completion and job placement rates of at least 70% ⁠¹¹. Unlike regular Pell, students who already have a bachelor’s degree can use it, and it can be combined with WIOA funding ⁠¹¹. As of the Workforce Development Council’s September 10, 2026 meeting, Hawaiʻi had no approved programs. The state working group set a goal of first disbursement in August 2027, and the Council needs to approve state policy and criteria by its November board meeting ⁠¹²⁠¹³. Until then, short non-credit courses at UH campuses cannot be paid for with Pell.

American Job Center Hawaii, the ETPL and WIOA training accounts

Adults and dislocated workers who want training paid for go through one of four American Job Center Hawaii offices ⁠¹⁵:

WIOA pays through an Individual Training Account (ITA), and only for programs on Hawaiʻi’s Eligible Training Provider List ⁠¹⁴. The list was last updated October 7, 2026. It includes credit and non-credit programs at Honolulu CC’s Pacific Center for Advanced Technology Training, Kapiʻolani, Leeward, Windward, Hawaiʻi CC and UH Maui College, along with private schools for commercial driving, dental assisting and medical assisting ⁠¹⁴. Each county board sets its own limits. The Maui County Workforce Development Board, whose WIOA services are run by Goodwill, reviewed its caps in August 2026 and kept them at $5,000 for training and $1,200 for supportive services ⁠¹². On Oʻahu, the board picked Applied Computer Training & Technology as its new WIOA service provider in 2026. Board staff are covering the job center in the meantime, and the board says ITAs are still being issued ⁠¹³. Money is limited: Maui reported waitlists for its adult and dislocated worker programs at the end of program year 2024 ⁠¹². If you are a current TANF recipient, also see the training support in Hawaii’s cash assistance guide.

Applying for 2027-28 aid at a UH campus, step by step

1. File the 2027-28 FAFSA early

   Mānoa’s priority date is February 1, 2027, and the community college priority deadline for Hawaiʻi Promise is March 1 ⁠²⁠⁶. Free help is available at [email protected] ⁠².

2. Settle your residency

   Promise, B Plus and the Mānoa Opportunity Grant all depend on resident tuition status on your UH record, and a change in status can change your aid ⁠²⁠⁶⁠⁸.

3. Submit the UH System Common Scholarship Application

   by March 1, 2027 at 4:00 p.m. HST, and have recommenders submit their letters by March 8 ⁠⁹.

4. Register for enough credits

   Promise needs six credits per semester in an aid-eligible program. B Plus needs full-time enrollment, and Mānoa grants count only Mānoa credits ⁠²⁠⁶⁠⁸.

5. Answer your campus’s requirements

   Check your aid status for outstanding documents. Promise is added only after you accept your other gift aid ⁠¹⁠⁶.

6. For short-term job training, visit an American Job Center

   Bring ID and proof of income and work history. Choose a program on the October 2026 Eligible Training Provider List and ask about your county’s ITA cap ⁠¹⁴⁠¹⁵.

7. Appeal or reapply

   If you lose aid for satisfactory academic progress, ask your campus aid office about its appeal deadline. Keep your GPA at 2.0 or higher to renew Promise and B Plus ⁠²⁠⁸.

For other states’ grant maximums, see the 50-state student grant comparison.