Is Kapiolani Community College Worth It?

Kapiolani Community College runs on low cost and low debt, and that keeps your downside contained even when outcomes are modest. You pay a fraction of what a four-year school charges, and you leave owing under $10,000, so the money at risk is small. The problem is what you get for it: median earnings ten years out sit in the mid-$40,000s, and only one in five students finishes. That combination makes the average return mixed at best.

Your major decides everything here. The allied health diagnostic and treatment associate degree clears $80,000, and registered nursing pushes near $70,000, both while carrying only around $11,000 in debt. Those two programs are the clear financial winners, and Honolulu's hospital and clinical demand supports them. Below that, the picture drops fast. Medical assisting lands in the low $40,000s, and accounting and culinary arts both sit near $31,000 to $33,000. Culinary arts in particular pays about $50,000 less than the diagnostic health track for a similar time and cost investment.

The specific risk at Kapiolani is the 20 percent graduation rate. The strong salaries only apply if you finish, and four out of five students here do not. If you enroll in nursing or diagnostic health and complete, the math works well. If you drift or drop out, you get little earnings lift for your time.

Net price barely moves for lower-income families: you pay around $4,150 whether your household earns under $30,000 or up to $48,000. Above $75,000, price climbs past $8,000, and over $110,000 it hits about $10,500. This school fits you if you commit to a health credential and can graduate. If you want culinary or accounting, price out the Honolulu job market first before you assume it pays off.