By Thai Luong, Special to Kapiʻo /
Students attending Kapiʻolani Community College are taking the first of many steps to achieving their professional dreams. While some will begin work right after leaving KCC, many others will continue on to the University of Hawaii at Manoa or another four-year institution.
The leap from a community college to a big university like UHM can be challenging and scary, but with the appropriate knowledge and understanding, transferring can be easy.
Here are some important tips for students transfer to UHM:
1.) Be sure that you are able to transfer
This is the most important but often overlooked part of transferring: Are you qualified to transfer? There are two common ways for you to transfer to UHM. One is through the Ka‘ie‘ie program, which offers the option of dual admission at KCC and UHM.
The other is graduating from KCC with 60 total credits. If you prefer the latter, log on to your MyUH account and click on the STAR degree check. This service will tell you how many credits you need in order to graduate from KCC.
If you are not sure about graduating or transferring, email the transfer expert at KCC and schedule an appointment to discuss your concerns and questions. Counselors are there to assist your needs and will help make your college and transfer experience easier. If you have issues outside of school, they are an excellent resource. To do this, contact Cory Ando (kaptye@hawaii.edu 808-734-9676) at the Transfer-Year Experience at KCC.
3.) Notify the Financial Aid office and KCC about your plans to transfer
If you have FAFSA and want to continue receiving aid when you transfer to UHM, renew your existing application online and designate UHM in the school selection section. FAFSA will process your application and send it to UHM. When you are certain that you will be transferring and have met all of the requirements, you will need to notify KCC (kapinfo@hawaii.edu, 808-734-9555) that you won’t be needing aid anymore. This will prevent you from having a hold on your account. The priority deadline to apply for FAFSA at UHM is March, 1, 2015.
4.) For students that are planning to transfer out of state
Make sure that the credits that you are taking at KCC are transferable to the college that you wish to transfer to. Most colleges have a credit transfer evaluation page on their website in which you can check if the credit that you’re taking now will be able to transfer to your new college.
5.) Additional important information
The deadline for students planning to transfer during to UHM next fall is March, 1, 2015. Students must complete the application checklist before being accepted at UHM.