by our College Data Analytics TeamMost students will not be asked to pay the full sticker price of a school. Rather, they are offered a financial aid plan that includes a mix of loans, grants, scholarships, and possibly work-study opportunities. The total cost of going to University of Hawaii at Manoa can seem tremendous, but do not forget that almost all students are given some form of financial help.
What financing options does UH Manoa offer, and what will you qualify for? Keep scrolling for more information. Keep going to learn just how much financial aid will be open to you.
Your financial aid package, which may contain grants and scholarships, will be determined on your financial need. Use the information below to understand how much financial assistance you may get from University of Hawaii at Manoa.
Through a mix of loans, grants, work-study and scholarships, schools bring down the effective cost so more students can attend. Some kinds of aid are clearly preferable to others, and outcomes differ across students.
Looking at the entering class at University of Hawaii at Manoa, 76% of first-time, full-time freshmen received some form of financial aid (about 2176 first-years).
| Type of Aid | % of Freshmen Receiving | Average Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Grant or scholarship aid (all sources) | 66% | $8,039 |
| Institutional grants & scholarships | 60% | $5,959 |
| Federal Pell grants | 27% | $5,466 |
| State/local grants | 9% | $1,875 |
| Federal student loans | 31% | $5,098 |
Unlike loans, grants and scholarships are gift aid that does not need to be paid back, making them the most desirable form of assistance. Here, approximately 55% of undergraduates were awarded grant or scholarship aid averaging $8,172 (across roughly 7962 undergraduates).
| Award | % of Undergrads Receiving | Average Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Grant or scholarship aid (all sources) | 55% | $8,172 |
| Federal Pell grants | 26% | $5,288 |
| Federal student loans | 27% | $6,404 |
Title-IV recipients living on campus saw average grant aid of $10,769.
Need-based aid means lower-income families typically pay far less than the sticker price suggests.
| Family Income | Average Net Price |
|---|---|
| $0 – $48,000 | $8,494 |
| $30,001 – $75,000 | $11,739 |
| Over $75,000 | $19,066 |
The numbers above are post-aid net prices, so they already account for grants and scholarships.
After grants and scholarships come off the published price, what remains is the net price — the best estimate of true out-of-pocket cost.
| Cohort | Average Net Price |
|---|---|
| On-campus title-IV students | $15,664 |
| Off-campus title-IV students | $13,181 |
To get a personalized net price estimate, try UH Manoa’s online cost calculator: manoa.hawaii.edu/fas/basics/npcalc.htm.
A typical borrower at UH Manoa leaves with $13,099 in federal student debt.
| Metric | Amount |
|---|---|
| Median federal debt (all student-aid borrowers) | $13,099 |
| Median federal debt (graduates only) | $18,500 |
| Typical 10-year monthly payment (graduates) | $196.13/mo |
Under a standard ten-year plan, the median graduate’s monthly payment lands near the figure above.
Percentiles reveal the spread — half of all borrowers fall between the 25th and 75th percentiles. These percentiles trace how cumulative federal debt is spread among borrowers at UH Manoa.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $3,500 |
| 25th percentile | $6,250 |
| 75th percentile | $25,000 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $33,375 |
How much a student borrows depends heavily on family income, first-gen status, and dependency.
By Family Income
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $14,000 |
| Middle income | $12,500 |
| High income | $13,099 |
By First-Generation Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $13,750 |
| Continuing-generation students | $12,500 |
Dependency-Status Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $12,750 |
| Independent students | $15,545 |
The Department of Education computes summary indicators that describe debt outcomes at a glance. UH Manoa.
The Stafford program is the federal direct-loan vehicle most undergraduates use. These figures summarize annual Stafford program activity at UH Manoa:
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Stafford loan recipients | 36643 |
| Total Stafford loan amount | $843,975,805 |
Veterans and active-duty service members may qualify for the Post-9/11 GI Bill or DoD Tuition Assistance.
GI Bill volume
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| GI Bill recipients | 876 |
| Total GI Bill amount | $9,204,384 |
| Average GI Bill amount per recipient | $10,507 |
DoD program volume
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| DoD Tuition Assistance recipients | 43 |
| Total DoD amount | $99,500 |
| Average DoD amount per recipient | $2,314 |
References
More about our data sources and methodologies.