Across the country this fall, universities reported that enrollment of foreign students dropped from a year ago. Some point to the recent actions taken by the Trump administration to restrict visas.
But Hawaiʻi appears to be bucking that trend. Overall, the University of Hawaiʻi is seeing an increase in enrollment — the highest in eight years.
The Conversation spoke to Debora Halbert, vice president for academic strategy, about what might be driving those numbers across the university system's campuses.
Interview highlights
On enrollment numbers across the 10 campuses
DEBORA HALBERT: So we have the highest number that we have had in recent years. Our UH total is at 51,412, and I would note that we are now past the date to withdraw, and so that is the number. Obviously, we'll still be doing assessment of what that number means over the next month or so, because we're just able to solidify it now, and that's a really exciting development for us as we move into this uncertain time.
On international student enrollment
HALBERT: We have people from over 106 countries that are attending one of our institutions this academic year. And the top five countries are Japan, China, the Federated States of Micronesia, South Korea and Canada. But I think most interesting from our perspective, because we do have a commitment to the Pacific, is if you could include the students from all of the different Pacific Islanders, it makes them second only to Japan in terms of our international student enrollment. So it's a pretty exciting way that we're outreaching to the Pacific, and of course, hopefully we can continue to do that in more numbers as we go forward. ... I would imagine if you look at the top five countries, for example, we have really solid connections and relationships with those countries. We've had students coming from those countries for many, many years. They go home, and of course, they become part of the network for the University of Hawaiʻi system. And so once you've built those pathways, it's easy for students to continue to take those pathways to the university.
On having a diverse student body
HALBERT: One of the foundational principles of education is that you learn both from the classes you're taking but from your peers, and the more interesting perspectives that come with the educational platform, the better for students. And so having students that come from all over in the classroom helps to increase the range of ideas that are exchanged.
On Hawaiʻi residents staying home for school
HALBERT: Where our enrollment is up the most is in resident enrollments, Hawaiʻi residents staying home. That's where, if you look across our different categories, that's where it's the most up. And last year was up from the year before. So we've seen a consistent increase in student enrollment from Hawaiʻi since 2023. … One of the things we're working on right now is an expanded direct admission to the University of Hawaiʻi for all public high school students in the state. So that is rolling out in October. We're really excited to be able to offer that to students, and we hope that will also mean that they're likely to attend a University of Hawaiʻi campus in the future. And also, I should note that one of the reasons that our enrollment is up is because we have a really robust early college program, and the students who do early college with the University of Hawaiʻi, oftentimes, then attend the University of Hawaiʻi.
On enrollment at the community colleges
HALBERT: The enrollment at community colleges is varied. It's up overall by 2.2% this year, but each community college has a different story to tell, and we don't really know yet what those stories involve. Some are down, but some are up, and so a lot of that also has to do with resident enrollment versus nonresident enrollment. It also may have to do with the mix of classes that they offer online versus face-to-face classes. And another factor that may play a role is that students at the community colleges can register at any of the community colleges and take classes there. So we haven't really parsed out the data on the number of students who are enrolled at a home campus, but taking classes at another campus, because that's one of the exciting pieces of how we can register people seamlessly across our system at the community colleges.
The Conversation also checked with the PK-12 Mid-Pacific Institute, which reports it too has seen its numbers of international students rise this year.
This story aired on The Conversation on Oct. 7, 2025. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. Hannah Kaʻiulani Coburn adapted this interview for the web.
