Brigham Young University-Hawaii

Private · Selective · HI

Photo: Daniel Ramirez (CC BY 2.0)

School data & stats

TypePrivate

LocationHI · West

SettingRural

Undergrads2,889

Student:faculty18:1

Outcomes

4-yr grad rate29.2%

6-yr grad rate52.6%

Drop-out rate26.5%

Study abroad—

Cost

In-state tuition$7k

Out-of-state tuition$7k

Application fee—

Community

Racial diversity82.8%

Gender diversity58.2%

International61%

IdentityLatter Day Saints (Mormon Church)

Overview

BYU-Hawaii is a small Latter-day Saint university in Laie, on Oahu's rural north shore, part of the Church Educational System alongside BYU in Provo and BYU-Idaho. It draws one of the most internationally diverse student bodies of any American campus, with large contingents from the Pacific Islands and Asia alongside mainland US students, most of them practicing members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints living under a shared honor code.

Academics

Programs concentrate in business, education, hospitality and tourism management, exercise and sport science, and intercultural peacebuilding, favoring practical, career-oriented training over research-university breadth. Class sizes are small and faculty are personally accessible. The university runs on a distinctive year-round, multi-track calendar rather than a standard two-semester schedule, letting it enroll more students than its limited campus housing would otherwise allow, with students and faculty cycling through tracks across the year.

Campus & student life

Many students work at the adjacent Polynesian Cultural Center, a major Oahu visitor attraction the university itself built and still partly owns, performing, guiding tours, or working food service to help fund tuition while gaining direct hospitality experience. Life follows the honor code common to Church-affiliated schools, governing dress, conduct, and substance use, and the small north-shore town of Laie keeps the community tight, insular, and distinctly different from a mainland American college town.

Getting in

Admission expects an ecclesiastical endorsement from a bishop or church leader alongside academic records, and the applicant pool is shaped heavily by international and Pacific Islander students seeking a Church-sponsored education at reduced cost. Many applicants have already served or plan to serve a full-time mission before or during enrollment. Fit with the university's religious mission and honor code carries as much weight as competitive academic positioning.

After graduation

Many graduates return to home countries across the Pacific and Asia to work in business, education, and government, carrying the university's network with them; others move into Hawaii's hospitality and tourism industry directly through Polynesian Cultural Center ties, or continue to graduate study at BYU's Provo campus. The Church's global institutional network functions as an informal alumni system well beyond a typical university's reach.

Worth knowing

The honor code is a serious daily commitment, not a formality, and the multi-track, year-round calendar means the campus rarely has a true off-season. The Polynesian Cultural Center work-study arrangement is central to how many students afford school at all, and the campus culture is unusually international for its small size, with dozens of Pacific and Asian nations represented.

byuh.edu ↗

Admissions

Acceptance rate47%

Enrolled mid-50%SAT 960–1190 · ACT 21–25

Test policyrequired

Rec letters—

Deadlines (2026–27 cycle)

Applying (2026-27 cycle)

Apply through Own application.

Verified from the school’s admissions pages ↗