UH Mānoa exceeds 20K students for the first time in over a decade

Fall 2024 enrollment at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa surpassed 20,000 students for the first time since 2013, the university reports. The final enrollment numbers will not be official until the first week of October, but as of Sept. 17, there are 20,012 students enrolled at UH Mānoa, a 4% increase over 2023. 

“This milestone is the work of so many who over these past years have built a superb enrollment management program that recruits great students from Hawaiʻi and beyond,” said UH President David Lassner. “And it’s not just about recruiting students, it’s about retaining them. Credit for that goes to our amazing faculty, our advisors, our support staff, and all of the people who make Hawaiʻi’s own global research university such a special place to study.”

Record high first-time freshmen

UH Mānoa is also welcoming a record high 3,123 first-time freshmen in fall 2024. This is the third straight year the university has reached 3,000 or more freshmen after surpassing the mark for the first time in the university’s 117-year history in 2022.

“These enrollment numbers should not come as a surprise as UH Mānoa is one of the top universities in the world, delivering a world-class education at a cost that our students and their families can afford,” said UH Mānoa Provost Michael Bruno. “This type of success does not happen overnight and is the result of years of hard work and data driven improvements. Another difference maker is that we are doing a better job of consistently telling our stories, an effort that started over a decade ago.”

Record freshmen recruitment

The record number of first time freshmen also included record highs in other categories (as of Sept. 17):

• 1,849 of the freshmen are Hawaiʻi residents, up from 1,581 in fall 2023 and 1,577 in fall 2022
• 489 identify as Native Hawaiian, up from 382 in fall 2023 and 395 in fall 2022 
• 406 identify as Filipino, up from 355 in fall 2023 and 353 in fall 2022

“I am so proud to see the increases in our Native Hawaiian and Filipino students, as better serving these underrepresented groups has long been a top priority at UH Mānoa,” said UH Mānoa Vice Provost for Enrollment Management Nikki Chun. “I would attribute the growth in all of these categories in the freshmen class to the changes we made to the merit scholarship program, which is now more focused on enrolling Hawai’i resident students.” 

Enrollment at UH Mānoa has been steadily rising over the last five years with one exception in 2022, when there were 24 fewer students than in 2021. 2021 had seen a 6% increase from 2020.

Increase despite FAFSA

The 4% increase in 2024 came as the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) process was mired with issues. The federal government’s update to the FAFSA form last year was released months behind schedule and experienced multiple technical difficulties that created uncertainty for students and their families as colleges scrambled to issue financial aid packages in spite of the challenges.

“I’m really proud that we were prepared for the FAFSA delays, and I am grateful for the proactive work done by the Financial Aid staff,” said Chun. “Despite the delays, we were able to disburse more money to both undergraduate and graduate students.” 

Chun said UH Mānoa disbursed $81.6 million to more than 11,400 students this year compared to $74.6 million to more than 9,900 students in 2023. 

The final enrollment numbers for UH’s 10 campuses will be announced in October. As of Sept. 17, headcount enrollment was up at eight of the 10 UH campuses, with a 2.8% increase across the entire UH system. This follows fall 2023, when enrollment was up 1.8% system-wide. 

Fall 2024 UH Mānoa student body profile 

• 62% (12,439) local students (5% increase from 2023)
• 31% (6,232) out-of-state US students (2% increase from 2023)
• 6% (1,245) international students (5% increase from 2023)