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It has long been my dream to escape the overcast weather, cold, and industrial sprawl that is Michigan. I'm planning on quitting my job in a year and attending school at UH Manoa or maybe Kapi'Olani CC for the first year to save on tuition.
There are a few details I'm trying to sort out so I can better plan my move. One would be whether or not I need to take my car. Being a student I planned on trying to find a place to live that is reasonably close to the campus. Plus I don't need the additional upkeep and insurance expense if I'm using student loans. At the same time though I don't want to be stuck without transportation. I hear bad things about public transport in Hawaii but maybe it's not true? I'm not sure I could work out the logistics of getting a surf board to the beach on a pedal bike though.
My other question is where to live. Student specific apartment housing seems seriously overpriced. Nearly $700/month to share a studio with two other people. $1100+ if you want your own. I'm leaning more towards sharing a house. I'm not sure how much of the "college experience" I want. I'm 26 so I'm past the partying, but the social aspect appeals to me so I wouldn't mind living around the campus.
Finally I'm wondering if it would be hard to find a part time job at a bar or restaurant. Maybe a hotel bar?
This is a big move for me and it's going to be a huge change of lifestyle. I appreciate any advice anyone can give me on anything having to do with this!!
It has long been my dream to escape the overcast weather, cold, and industrial sprawl that is Michigan. I'm planning on quitting my job in a year and attending school at UH Manoa or maybe Kapi'Olani CC for the first year to save on tuition.
There are a few details I'm trying to sort out so I can better plan my move. One would be whether or not I need to take my car. Being a student I planned on trying to find a place to live that is reasonably close to the campus. Plus I don't need the additional upkeep and insurance expense if I'm using student loans. At the same time though I don't want to be stuck without transportation. I hear bad things about public transport in Hawaii but maybe it's not true? I'm not sure I could work out the logistics of getting a surf board to the beach on a pedal bike though.
My other question is where to live. Student specific apartment housing seems seriously overpriced. Nearly $700/month to share a studio with two other people. $1100+ if you want your own. I'm leaning more towards sharing a house. I'm not sure how much of the "college experience" I want. I'm 26 so I'm past the partying, but the social aspect appeals to me so I wouldn't mind living around the campus.
Finally I'm wondering if it would be hard to find a part time job at a bar or restaurant. Maybe a hotel bar?
This is a big move for me and it's going to be a huge change of lifestyle. I appreciate any advice anyone can give me on anything having to do with this!!
There must be 10+ recent new forum members wanting to all attend UH or a CC?
Think about this. Honolulu is the second most expensive city to live in, in the US, right behind New York City. It currently ranks 25th most expensive in the world.
I recently moved to hawaii just about a month ago by myself and although i dont have as much experience yet as others here, ill give you my 2 cents. I cant speak for how the job outlook is for bars/restuarants here or what those schools are like, but I can tell you that everywhere you willl need to go here in honolulu is all really close. You can theoretically get around everywhere you need to go with a bike or bus i would imagine. I myself bought a car here rather than shipping my car from the east coast and I dont regret it. I personally like having a car and not having to rely on public transportation. However the biggest problem for me with having this car here now is that if i ever wanted to move back home (East Coast) i will have to deal with the headahce of shipping it back to Ca then driving it cross-country back home..ugh.
As far as apts go, yes they are expensive however if you look on craigslist there seem to be plenty of roomshares especially for students.
I know this is a big decision..it definitly was for me but it definitly will also be a big lifetime experience that you will find rewarding.
HI is an expensive place to live. Not only are housing prices high, but things like groceries, gas, etc. are too. There are tons of college kids who do make it work, though. As far as transportation goes, it's not necessary. You can always buy a monthly bus pass, it's good for the whole month, unlimited use. OR maybe a moped would be a good idea. Hoards of college kids have mopeds, cheap gas, easy to find parking, and you can certainly tote a surfboard on a moped.
There must be 10+ recent new forum members wanting to all attend UH or a CC?
Think about this. Honolulu is the second most expensive city to live in, in the US, right behind New York City. It currently ranks 25th most expensive in the world.
To be honest I have heard this cost of living argument so many times I don't even register it anymore. I'm going to be a college student and I'm going to be living like one. 80% of my diet right now consists of oatmeal, eggs, and coconut oil, mainly for health reasons. How expensive are those things? Like I also said, I wasn't planning on bringing my car either so that is one financial burden off my shoulders to the tune of at least $300/month between gas and insurance I currently pay.
The housing does seem expensive but even in my area of Michigan I would pay at least $800/month for a decent apartment and that wouldn't include utilities.
After reading some other threads my main concern now is the supposed racism. Racism is part of the reason I'm actually wanting to leave Michigan. I'm white and as I've grown up it has always been predominately white, but being around the narrow racist mindsets of some of my co-workers and acquaintances is draining on me. At least in Hawaii I could put myself on the other side of it. I might actually be more comfortable there..
How are the colleges in Hawaii anyway? I know UH Manoa is ranked Tier 3 but supposedly those rankings don't paint an accurate picture. Any current students there care to comment?
Aloha! I don't have a lot to add, but I could pretty much have made the same post as the OP, but replace "Michigan" for "Utah!" Heck, I'm even 26!
I'm planning on moving out in February of next year, to establish residency, and maybe begin taking a light course schedule with a job (I've also got several months of living expenses saved up), then going full-time at UHM. I picked UHM both because I've been longing to move back to the Islands, but also because I'm looking at studying both Polynesian and East Asian languages and history.
How are the colleges in Hawaii anyway? I know UH Manoa is ranked Tier 3 but supposedly those rankings don't paint an accurate picture. Any current students there care to comment?
I'm a prof at UH Manoa, so my view is somewhat different than a student's perhaps. But I'll attempt an answer. For context, I have taught at two other universities, both of them prestigious private schools, including one Ivy League school.
First, the whole "tier 1, tier 2" thing is mostly meaningless to undergrads, unless you are a superstar in your field who wants to do research with a famous person. This is very, very rare at the undergrad level, but it does happen. Also, those rankings are averaged over all departments. UH Manoa would be in the top five in several fields, including Astronomy, Ocean Science, Hawaiian Studies (duh) and East Asian Studies.
The faculty at UH Manoa are primarily researchers, just like at any of your tier 1 schools. My sense is that teaching is valued more at UH Manoa than at other places I've been, but it's still not valued above research. In other words, teaching is my *second* priority. Always. I try not to make that obvious to my students, but it's a fact, and it's the same for all of the other profs.
One thing that's very different about UH Manoa is that you are almost certain to be taught by the actual faculty rather than "adjuncts". At other schools in bigger cities, there's a big move towards staffing classes with part-time faculty. These folks work incredibly hard, get paid very little, and have no job security. There's no quality control because no one really supervises the adjuncts. They come in and teach, and then drive to another school where they do the same thing. Because they often teach all over town, they are less accessible than regular faculty. Because Oahu doesn't have hundreds of unemployed PhDs running around, there are really very few adjuncts teaching at UH Manoa. You'll pretty much always be taught by a faculty member or visitor who works full time at the school.
From my perspective, what's different about the students is not how smart they are or how hard they work, but how much they have other stuff going on in their lives. At UH Manoa, pretty much all of my students work many, many hours a week to get by. It's very hard to do well in classes when you waited tables until 2am the night before. So on average, my students don't do as well here as they did when I taught the same classes at other uni's. But it's not because they're not capable. They just don't have enough time. There's also a lot of part-time students and students who take more than 4 or 5 years to finish a degree. Part of that has to do with the need to work as well.
You should remember that there are other schools here, too. There's UH Hilo, if you are interested in the quieter life of the Big Island. There's also HPU, BYU Hawaii, and Chaminade, all with interesting programs and different campus personalities.
Location: Was in Western New York but now in Hilo Hawaii
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Quote:
Originally Posted by newUHprof
I'm a prof at UH Manoa, so my view is somewhat different than a student's perhaps. But I'll attempt an answer. For context, I have taught at two other universities, both of them prestigious private schools, including one Ivy League school.
First, the whole "tier 1, tier 2" thing is mostly meaningless to undergrads, unless you are a superstar in your field who wants to do research with a famous person. This is very, very rare at the undergrad level, but it does happen. Also, those rankings are averaged over all departments. UH Manoa would be in the top five in several fields, including Astronomy, Ocean Science, Hawaiian Studies (duh) and East Asian Studies.
The faculty at UH Manoa are primarily researchers, just like at any of your tier 1 schools. My sense is that teaching is valued more at UH Manoa than at other places I've been, but it's still not valued above research. In other words, teaching is my *second* priority. Always. I try not to make that obvious to my students, but it's a fact, and it's the same for all of the other profs.
One thing that's very different about UH Manoa is that you are almost certain to be taught by the actual faculty rather than "adjuncts". At other schools in bigger cities, there's a big move towards staffing classes with part-time faculty. These folks work incredibly hard, get paid very little, and have no job security. There's no quality control because no one really supervises the adjuncts. They come in and teach, and then drive to another school where they do the same thing. Because they often teach all over town, they are less accessible than regular faculty. Because Oahu doesn't have hundreds of unemployed PhDs running around, there are really very few adjuncts teaching at UH Manoa. You'll pretty much always be taught by a faculty member or visitor who works full time at the school.
From my perspective, what's different about the students is not how smart they are or how hard they work, but how much they have other stuff going on in their lives. At UH Manoa, pretty much all of my students work many, many hours a week to get by. It's very hard to do well in classes when you waited tables until 2am the night before. So on average, my students don't do as well here as they did when I taught the same classes at other uni's. But it's not because they're not capable. They just don't have enough time. There's also a lot of part-time students and students who take more than 4 or 5 years to finish a degree. Part of that has to do with the need to work as well.
You should remember that there are other schools here, too. There's UH Hilo, if you are interested in the quieter life of the Big Island. There's also HPU, BYU Hawaii, and Chaminade, all with interesting programs and different campus personalities.
Best of luck.
I hate quoting long posts but Wow another good post today!
As a poster of a spouse that is starting to teach at UHH in Jan. the above quote hits it on the mark!
I agree with the slower quiet life of Hilo this is why we will be there.
If you will be borrowing money (school loans) in order to live while you attend school, it just doesn't make sense to me to go to a school in which the cost of daily living is so high. It makes more sense to find a college or university which will get that degree for you at the lowest overall cost. You will have to pay off those loans later.
In almost any profession you ultimately choose, no employer really cares which school you got your degree from 10+ years down the road. They just want to know that you did get one.
My family and I are seriously concidering a move soon to Hawaii, but my family members that live in California say nobody will be nice to us because we are not native to Hawaii, raised in Cali, moved to Utah in 94, tired of the desert, want some Paradise. Can anyone from Hawaii tell me how we will be accepted?
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