{"id":105199,"date":"2019-10-27T08:00:09","date_gmt":"2019-10-27T18:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=105199"},"modified":"2020-08-07T13:40:42","modified_gmt":"2020-08-07T23:40:42","slug":"limited-space-online-aa-degree","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2019\/10\/27\/limited-space-online-aa-degree\/","title":{"rendered":"Limited space available for <abbr title=\"University of Hawaii\">UH<\/abbr> Community College accelerated online degree"},"content":{"rendered":"<span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Reading time: <\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> 2<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minutes<\/span><\/span><div class=\"responsive-video-wrap-post\"><figure class=\"wp-block-embed wp-block-embed-youtube is-type-video is-provider-youtube epyt-figure\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"><div class=\"epyt-video-wrapper\"><iframe  id=\"_ytid_26959\"  width=\"620\" height=\"349\"  data-origwidth=\"620\" data-origheight=\"349\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/awBNDKbfWrY?enablejsapi=1&origin=https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu&rel=0&autoplay=0&cc_load_policy=0&cc_lang_pref=&iv_load_policy=1&loop=0&fs=1&playsinline=0&autohide=2&theme=dark&color=red&controls=1&disablekb=0&\" class=\"__youtube_prefs__  no-lazyload\" title=\"Limited space available for Â鶹´«Ã½Community College accelerated online degree\"  allow=\"fullscreen; accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen data-no-lazy=\"1\" data-skipgform_ajax_framebjll=\"\"><\/iframe><\/div><\/div><\/figure><\/div>\n<p>Four-year-old Carter can be a distraction for his mom <strong>Puanani Akaka<\/strong> as he plays with his many toys while she studies in their Makiki apartment. However, he is also her motivator as she works on an <a href=\"http:\/\/uhcc.hawaii.edu\/online\/\">accelerated online liberal arts degree<\/a> offered by the <a href=\"http:\/\/uhcc.hawaii.edu\/index.php\">University of <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Community Colleges<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Akaka manages to do this while also holding down a full-time job as an employment specialist with Catholic Charities.<\/p>\n<p>Akaka says, &ldquo;I hope to finish successfully with good grades and then also to show my son that it\u2019s possible to work and do all these other things as well.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Chantel Kualapai<\/strong> is a student in the program\u2019s first cohort with Akaka. She was working three jobs when she saw a television ad for the program last year.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_105206\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-105206\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/system-aa-online-kualapai-c-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-105206\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/system-aa-online-kualapai-c-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/system-aa-online-kualapai-c-130x73.jpg 130w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/system-aa-online-kualapai-c-630x353.jpg 630w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/system-aa-online-kualapai-c.jpg 676w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-105206\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Chantel Kualapai<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&ldquo;At that point, I was thinking about going back and getting my degree because I\u2019d been laid off a few times,&rdquo; Kualapai says. &ldquo;I was trying to get jobs where I know I can do it, but they just couldn\u2019t put me in the programs or put me in the positions because I didn\u2019t have a degree.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Kualapai shares her home in &#699;Ewa with nine family members. She appreciates the flexibility of the online program, consisting of five-week courses done one at a time over two-and-a-half years.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;It helps me not have to give up more time to go to campus, sit in a class, and then traffic and (find) parking,&rdquo; Kualapai says. &ldquo;That just takes up way too much time, so I can devote more to my studies and less on traveling to and from campus.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<h2>Exceeding expectations<\/h2>\n<p>Interest in the program has far exceeded expectations <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2019\/01\/13\/uh-completely-online-degree\/\">since it launched in January 2019<\/a>. There were almost 400 applicants for 40 spaces in the first cohort, so the group was expanded to make room for 55 students. Students completing the program will earn an associate in arts degree from Leeward Community College in December 2021.<\/p>\n<p>Registration for the second cohort of the <abbr title=\"University of Hawaii\">UH<\/abbr> accelerated online <abbr>AA<\/abbr> degree program, to begin in spring 2020, is open now on the <a href=\"http:\/\/uhcc.hawaii.edu\/online\/\"><abbr>UH<\/abbr> Community Colleges website<\/a>, with only 75 spots available.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;People who have an associates degree are more likely to be able to be employed, even in bad economic times, their earnings are higher, health is better, there\u02bbs more civic engagement,&rdquo; says <abbr>UH<\/abbr> Community Colleges Associate Vice President <strong>Tammi Oyadomari-Chun<\/strong>. &ldquo;There are lots of other reasons to have a degree besides just what it allows in terms of economic opportunities.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Those in the program will attest to its worth. Kualapai says it has been life-changing, &ldquo;I\u2019ll have a degree at the end of this program that I probably wouldn\u2019t have.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Akaka says, &ldquo;I feel that I just want it so badly, so staying motivated and determined is really what pushes me and looking at my son knowing that once I can get a degree, I can move forward and then I can probably get better pay and that will help us financially.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/uhcc.hawaii.edu\/online\/\">Apply for the <abbr>UH<\/abbr> accelerated online <abbr>AA<\/abbr> degree<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><em>&#8212;By Kelli Trifonovitch<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Only 75 spots are available for the spring 2020 cohort of the online <abbr>AA<\/abbr> liberal arts degree. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,12],"tags":[1224,71,56],"class_list":["post-105199","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academic-news","category-video","tag-distance-education","tag-uh-community-colleges","tag-video-2","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105199","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=105199"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105199\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":124599,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105199\/revisions\/124599"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=105199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=105199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=105199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}