Beyond Eligibility: Why Flexible Funding Matters
Koa’s path to college didn’t follow a traditional route. (For privacy, let’s call him Koa.) He earned his GED instead of a high school diploma. He attended college part time, balancing coursework with a job to help support his household and cover his own expenses. Koa is also a first-generation college student and spent time in the foster care system.
Koa’s story pointed to a strong determination to pursue higher education as well as significant financial need. His FAFSA reflected a household contribution of zero. Still, when Koa first applied for scholarships through Hawai‘i Community Foundation, he didn’t receive any awards. With more than 300 scholarship funds, many are shaped by donor preferences: a required major, full-time enrollment, and other specific eligibility requirements. Koa, like many students today, didn’t align with these parameters.
“He didn’t fit any of the donor-directed criteria,” says Tara Shibuya, HCF’s Education Program Director. “Even with a large number of scholarship funds, the more specific the criteria, the less likely those resources are to reach students from lower-income households, even if the need is there.”
Koa’s experience reflects a wider shift in higher education as students are more likely to navigate school alongside professional and personal responsibilities. “An increasing number of UH students attend part time,” Shibuya says. “It’s not because they want to, it’s because they need to work to support families or their education expenses.”
As part of HCF’s review process for applications that do not initially meet donor-directed criteria, staff took a closer look at Koa’s application. While he didn’t qualify for donor-directed funds, his story stood out. Through the Community Scholarship Fund—HCF’s pooled, unrestricted fund—the organization was able to step in and provide support.
“This is what we use to essentially fill in the pukas of students like Koa who demonstrate a want to go to college and barriers to education that their peers may not have encountered,” says Shibuya. Unrestricted giving makes this possible, allowing HCF to meet students where they are as their needs continue to evolve.
For students such as Koa, flexible funding can make all the difference. Even a single award can be transformative. “What we’ve heard from our scholarship recipients is that even just getting a scholarship, regardless of the amount, sometimes really makes them think, ‘somebody believes in me,’” Shibuya says.
As HCF looks ahead, Shibuya believes scholarships must remain flexible enough to meet needs that are already changing, and will continue to change in the decades ahead. Donor intent rooted in past experiences does not always reflect today’s reality for many students. It also may not reflect those of future generations either.
“We can’t predict what Hawai‘i will be like 50 or 100 years from now,” says Shibuya. “So the question is how do we make sure our giving continues to meet students where they are.”
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