Grants and Writing Resources for Hawaii Pacific University
The 'Ohana, HPU's news site, reported on October 7, 2026, that a third-year HPU nursing student had been named an Obama-Chesky Voyager Scholar for Public Service. The Obama-Chesky Voyager Scholarship, a two-year leadership program, pays up to $25,000 a year in "last dollar" aid for the junior and senior years. Between those years it adds a $10,000 stipend and free Airbnb housing for a summer work-travel project the scholar designs. She hopes to use hers to learn how culture, community and access to health care shape health outcomes in underserved communities.
Honors Projects and Symposia
Every student in the Residential Honors Program finishes with a Senior Honors Project. It can be a thesis or another mentored research or creative project, and it runs at least two semesters and draws on at least two disciplines. The proposal comes in the first semester. In the second, the student gives an oral presentation and leads a discussion at the HPU honors symposium, and the program encourages taking the work on to honors, undergraduate research or professional conferences. Students join as beginning freshmen; transfer students can't enter the program.
Graduate researchers present too. Thesis-track students in the Master of Science in Marine Science give a 10-minute talk on their project at the MSMS Student Symposium as they begin their second year.
A Literary Journal With Student Readers
Hawai`i Pacific Review is the university's national and international online literary journal, and students can work on its staff for credit. In WRI 3951, Staff Reader, a one-credit practicum, students read submissions in the journal's principal creative genres and work with the managing editors and the faculty editor to recommend what gets published. Staff readers also solicit submissions, edit the pieces selected and publicize the magazine, with editorial meetings several times a semester.
Graduate Funding
New graduate students are considered for HPU's graduate scholarships when they apply. Graduate Merit Scholarships run from $1,000 to $7,000 per academic year, depending on the program. HPU alumni returning full time for a select graduate program can receive the Graduate Alumni Scholarship of $2,000 per semester. Graduate assistantships carry about 25 or 50 percent tuition remission per academic year for up to four continuous semesters, in exchange for 9 or 18 hours a week of research, academic or administrative work. About 20 percent of graduate students receive some form of institutional aid, and about 10 percent hold assistantships.
In marine science, every MSMS thesis-track applicant is considered automatically for a merit-based graduate assistantship, and applicants on the other track go on a waitlist if funding is available. Some faculty advisors also have grant funds for their thesis students.
Help With Writing and Theses
The Center for Academic Success gives free tutoring to all registered undergraduate and graduate students, one on one or in small groups. Students can walk in, come by instructor referral or book through Navigate360. Brainfuse, the online service, runs 24 hours a day and covers writing from beginning to advanced levels. Librarians at the Library & Learning Commons take research consultations by appointment.
Marine science theses follow the 2025-2026 MSMS Graduate Student Handbook: 12-point type, double spacing, one-inch margins and an abstract of no more than 350 words. The advisor serves as mentor and editor and reviews the thesis before it goes to the committee. After the public defense, the student turns in an unbound, double-sided color copy to the CNCS dean's office and emails the program administrator a searchable PDF, along with the Electronic Graduate Professional Paper Release Form signed by student and advisor.
Before a paper, thesis or dissertation goes to a professor or committee, our editors can check it for grammar, consistency and format. See our Hawaii Pacific University dissertation and thesis editing and Hawaii Pacific University essay editing pages, or write to editors@editorsforstudents.com.
From Our Writing Guides
Compiled by James Peterson Brown, PhD, Managing Editor of Editors For Students. Links checked October 2026.
Editors For Students is an independent editorial service and is not affiliated with Hawaii Pacific University, and your faculty may endorse our services individually. We look forward to helping you bring your HPU writing to its strongest, submission-ready form.