Post-COVID and Post-EFC: A New Financial Landscape for Hawai‘i Students Pursuing STEM Degrees

Contributions by low resource and under-served populations in Hawai‘i to a strong regional and national STEM endeavor are limited by disenfranchisement from STEM education due to social, economic and cultural factors. This paper explores how national trends in higher education finance intersect with regional issues such as Hawai‘i’s exceptionally high cost of living and unique cultural setting. These financial challenges affect all Hawai'i residents, but disproportionately impact indigenous Hawaiian students and diasporic Pacific Island migrants, who are most likely to face economic precarity. The high cost of STEM degrees exacerbates these challenges, driven by expensive textbooks, laboratory fees, internship and professional development requirements, and extended time to graduation. Contextualized by post-COVID economic realities and the dramatic 2024 changes to the federal financial aid system, this paper highlights the ongoing need for regionally tailored financial models. We review the rapidly changing landscape for federal and state-level financial aid to inform faculty and administrators who are involved in designing and implementing programs that are focused on broadening STEM participation. We propose strategies that consider Hawai‘i’s economic and cultural distinctiveness, aiming to reduce financial barriers and increase participation for Hawai‘i students where underlying economic precarity is a barrier to STEM participation.