Tuition & Financial Aid

For Fall and Spring semester tuition & fee information, please refer to the “Graduate General & Post-Baccalaureate Unclassified” table on the UH Mānoa Tuition & Fees page. For Summer semester tuition & fee information, consult the UH Mānoa Outreach College Credit Course Tuition and Fees page.

When calculating tuition costs, note that a total of 39 graduate credits are required for the MLISc degree and that LIS graduate courses are worth 3 credits each. Full-time graduate student status is 8 credits each semester.

For up-to-date information regarding financial aid resources, please refer to the University’s Financial Aid Services site.

U.S. military personnel and their dependents are classified as nonresidents; however, they are allowed to pay the resident tuition rate if their orders station them in Hawaii. For details, please refer to the Office of Records & Registration.

As of November 2014, qualifying veterans of the United States Armed Forces are eligible for resident tuition rates and should refer to the Registrar’s Veterans Affairs page for eligibility information and other resources.

Tuition Waivers

UH employees and their spouses or domestic partners may be eligible for a tuition waiver of up to six credits per semester. Some fees (e.g., course and professional fees) are not covered by this tuition waiver. For further information, please refer to the Employee Registration & Tuition Waivers page at the Records & Registration web site.

Note: Students using tuition waivers must alert their advisor and the Program Coordinator if they will be using a waiver to pay for any LIS course offered via the UH Manoa Outreach College, i.e., those courses with the [ES] notation on the course schedule. Failure to do so may result in the waiver request being denied.

Native Hawaiian students are eligible for a tuition waiver from Kuaʻana Native Hawaiian Student Development Services. Tuition waiver awards are made yearly and applications are available online at the Kuaʻana website.

Fellowships & Assistantships

At this time the Program has very limited ability to provide assistantships to LIS students, however other UH Mānoa programs and departments may have such opportunities. To look for these opportunities, search for open Graduate Assistant positions on the Work at UH job board. When selecting job search criteria, choose “Graduate Assistant” as the job type and “UH Mānoa campus” as the campus/location for in-person positions.

For more information on assistantships, refer to the “Financial Aid” page in the Graduate Education section of the UH Mānoa Online Catalog.

The UH Mānoa Graduate Division maintains a list of national and international fellowships and extramural funding opportunities. For a list of these opportunities, visit the Fellowships & Scholarships page on their website.

The East-West Center administers a number of graduate fellowships for students from the United States, Asia, and the Pacific to participate in educational and research programs in residence at the East-West Center while pursuing graduate study at UH Mānoa. For a current listing of fellowships and application deadlines, consult the Student Programs page on the East-West Center website.

Hawaii Residency

Students who do not qualify as bonafide residents of the State of Hawai‘i, according to the University of Hawai‘i rules and regulations in effect at the time they register, must pay the nonresident tuition rate. An official determination of residency status will be made prior to enrollment. Prospective students may be required to provide documents to verify residency status. Once classified as a nonresident, a student continues to be so classified during his/her term at the University until he/she can present clear and convincing evidence to the residency officer that proves otherwise.

Due to the complex nature of residency eligibility, please refer to the Hawaiʻi Residency Requirements page for assistance. LIS Program personnel are unable to provide guidance concerning residency issues.