College and Work in Hawaii? (Honolulu, Hilo: how much, hotel, home)

[Breadry13]

Hey guys im a halfbred japanese/american and speak both languages fluently. im currently attending a university here in japan and will be graduating in 2 years. getting an education at a japanese university isnt that easy especially if your on an athletic scholarship like me and for my future i know i need a legitimate degree and actual knowledge to find a well paying job. my parents and brother moved to the puna area a few years ago and i figured since its now my home, i want to spend some time there. my idea is to go to the university in hilo and go to college again, and this time actually study.

my question is, having a home in puna, would that make going to school a lot cheaper? of course, as a 20 something I would rather attend u of h in manoa but ive heard horror stories about tuition and living costs. can anybody enlighten me about how i can go about this while have the experience of being the college kid i am. also would being bi-lingual contribute to my ability to find work in hawaii? thanks in advance guys. also feel free to add anything that i lacked in questions that may be helpful.

[HankDfrmSD]

Originally Posted by Breadry13

my question is, having a home in puna, would that make going to school a lot cheaper? of course, as a 20 something I would rather attend u of h in manoa but ive heard horror stories about tuition and living costs. can anybody enlighten me about how i can go about this while have the experience of being the college kid i am. also would being bi-lingual contribute to my ability to find work in hawaii?

Some opinions:

No first-hand knowlege here, but I think the industry in Hawaii most likely to scoop up someone bi-lingual in Japanese is the Tourist Industry.

Most Japanese tourists stay in Waikiki.

Manoa and Waikiki are pretty close together.

Hank

[cynmkolohe]

With family on the Big Island, it may work out nicely to try UH Hilo for a while. There are advantages to the UH Hilo campus...more personal, less traffic to navigate, parking is easier. Transferring to UH Manoa is easy enough if you work with an advisor along the way. The most important question is probably what area of study you are considering. UH Hilo has some very solid programs but there are other areas where UH Manoa would offer more flexibility and resources. Being bi-lingual is a definite plus in tourism and business environments.

[Breadry13]

thanks guys. yea tourism is definately something im looking into. which leads me to my next question, what would be a good degree to get so i can take a step into that industry. i look at my 4 years in japan as a college degree in the japanese language as well as culture, and now i need the necessary tools to become an articulate buffer between both cultures. any suggestions? also, how much money am i going to be spending if i want to live and go to school in manoa?

[cynmkolohe]

Office of Admissions
UH Hilo Admissions page

UHM Admissions & Records - Residency Information (http://www.hawaii.edu/admrec/res.html - broken link)
University system residency requirement

Your tuition will depend on your residency status. The second link above will take you to the page with the details.

Your best bet would probably be to email the admissions office...good luck!

[al96818]

The Travel Industry Mangagment program (TIM) at UH-Manoa is something you should look towards in getting into the Tourism Industry here in Hawaii- they range from Food and Beverage to Hotel Operations, to Hospitality and International Travel- so depending on the niche you want to do inside Tourism, TIM UH-Manoa can help you there. But be advised, UH-Manoa is on the island of Oahu, a 45 min flight away from the Big Island-- which means you'll have to dorm/rent for yoru place to stay on Oahu and pay UHManoa tution.

heres the tuition link: Tuition schedule for the 10-campuses of the University of Hawaii System

here is info on TIM-UH Manoa http://www.tim.hawaii.edu/default.aspx

Hope this helps. And your background in Japanese speaking/fluency in Japanese is a giant bonus in your repotoire when you start to apply for jobs.


Here is the CareerBuilder for the Honolulu Advertiser Newspaper (career builder publishes a huge directory of jobs every week and distributed freely on the island-- this is a good place to start looking first). Go to the link and look under Hospitality jobs-- youll get a sense of feeling of the types of jobs out there and the types of skillsets they are looking for. Maybe even land you an internship while youre going to school now.

honoluluadvertiser.com - CareerBuilder - Jobs

(if that didnt work try this one honoluluadvertiser.com - CareerBuilder - Jobs)



Good luck! Hope this helps!