Early College and Running Start in Hawaii: the law behind it

The statute

HRS § 302A-401

Dual credit program .

The whole legal basis, and short enough to read in a minute. It creates a dual credit program in the department permitting an eligible student to enroll in any qualified course offered by the University of Hawaii system. An eligible student is a public high school student in the ninth through twelfth grade who has passed a college-approved assessment showing the ability to succeed at college level, is under the age of twenty-one as of September 1 of that school year, and holds any other qualifications the department or the university considers appropriate. A qualified course is any vocational or academic University of Hawaii course that also applies to the department’s graduation requirements or is otherwise permitted by department rule or policy. No sentence in the section names who pays, which is why the cost answer has to come from the campus.

Who pays, and under what authority

Early College funding

University of Hawaii, Early College .

The page that explains why one Hawaii family pays nothing and another writes a check. Early College is a partnership between the Department of Education and the University of Hawaii system, delivered as sheltered college classes taught to a high school’s own students, and the university states that these classes are free of charge to participating department students thanks in large part to funding provided by the state legislature. Because that funding runs through the schools, whether Early College exists at a particular high school is a school and campus decision, and the page sends families to the counselor to find out.

Agency guidance

University of Hawaii dual credit

University of Hawaii, Dual Credit .

The system’s own comparison of the two routes, and the fastest way to settle who is expected to pay. Early College classes are held on the high school campus and the high school typically covers the cost. Running Start classes are held on a college campus and the cost varies between the student and family, the high school, and a scholarship. The same site carries the dual credit application a student files.

Running Start eligibility and campuses

University of Hawaii, Running Start .

The operating detail for the route that puts a student in a regular college class. A student attends a public or charter school in Hawaii, is under the age of twenty-one as of September 1 of the school year, meets the campus admission standards, passes math and English placement, and stays in acceptable academic standing. Nine campuses take Running Start students and Manoa is not among them, so a student aiming there is earning credit elsewhere and relying on it carrying across. The page also flags that the GEAR UP Running Start scholarship, which covered tuition, fees, and required textbooks for one course, ends after Summer 2026.

College and career readiness programs

Hawaii State Department of Education, College and Career Readiness .

The department’s side of the same partnership, written for families rather than for campuses. It describes Early College as University of Hawaii courses taught at the high school for grades nine through twelve and Running Start as regular university classes taken on a campus, and it covers the practical pieces the university pages leave out, including transportation. A school counselor works from this material, which makes it the right page to quote back when a school and a campus describe the program differently.

Who administers it

These are the offices that answer a question about Hawaii law rather than about one school or one campus. A district and a college can both be wrong about a state rule, and these pages are where the state's own position is published.

• Hawaii State Department of Education · Runs the dual credit program the statute creates and decides graduation credit.
• University of Hawaii, Dual Credit · The system office for both routes, with the campus list and the application form.
• University of Hawaii, Running Start · Where the campus contacts and the term deadlines for a college-campus course are published.
• Hawaii State Legislature, Hawaii Revised Statutes · Where section 302A-401 is published in current form.

Frequently asked

Does Hawaii law say dual credit is free?

No. Section 302A-401 creates the program without naming a payer. The University of Hawaii states that Early College classes are free to department students because the legislature funds them, while Running Start costs vary between the family, the high school, and a scholarship.

Which grades does the statute cover?

Ninth through twelfth, for public high school students who are under twenty-one as of September 1 of the school year and have passed a college-approved assessment. Running Start itself is offered to grades eleven and twelve, so a younger student’s route is Early College.

Is there a Hawaii administrative rule for dual credit?

None found. The Board of Education’s graduation policy, 102-15, sets the 24 credits for a diploma without mentioning college coursework, and the statute leaves qualified courses to department rule or policy rather than naming a rule.

What makes a college course count toward graduation?

The statute’s definition of a qualified course: a vocational or academic University of Hawaii course that also applies to the department’s graduation requirements, or that department rule or policy otherwise permits. The department, rather than the campus, applies that test.

Which campuses take Running Start students?

Nine: Hawaii, Honolulu, Kapiolani, Kauai, Leeward, and Windward community colleges, along with UH Hilo, UH Maui College, and UH West Oahu. Manoa does not participate, and the university page says home-schooled and private school students have limited options.