University of Hawaii - Manoa or West Oahu?

I am planning on attending college in Hawaii to get my BA in elementary education, as I plan to live and teach in Hawaii after. I was looking at both campuses and they offer my degree, but now is to decide which campus. The tuition at UH Manoa is more expensive than West Oahu. For the current year, at West Oahu, the full time student tuition for an out of state student is 5,088 dollars. At Manoa, it is 7,200. I understand each year the tuition will increase, and I do not plan on attending until the 2009/2010 year. But as of now I am trying to save as much money as I can and also start looking for scholarships. So here are my few questions:

1. Which campus is better for elementary education?

more below (im getting cut off here lol)

2. If I were to chose Manoa, I'm not exactly sure how much the student housing fee is, maybe 3,000-4,000? (if someone could correct me that would be great) And meals are almost 2000 for the whole year. Would it be cheaper to just find someone to rent an apartment with and pay rent each month and just buy groceries (i will have military id so i can access military bases to shop at commisary if its cheaper?). So would it be cheaper to attend and rent apartment and buy groceries, or to attend and live in student housing and have meal plan?

3. Is West Oahu any good?

West Oahu is "new" and fairly untested. You could start at Leeward Community College (very near) and then transfer to UH-WO for your junior and senior years. There are tuition programs, once you are a resident, for UH-WO and for teaching in the Leeward area.

Manoa is big, and established. Housing is very expensive everywhere, but moreso at UHM. Dormitories for the first year might help, although many room with others in the nearby neighborhoods. There is good bus service.

If you can move here a year ahead, you will get very inexpensive tuition, of course, and the legislature is providing more scholarships for teachers who will stay in the Leeward area. I would consider doing that--of course, you won't be able to save very much, but consider it.

I received my post bac. certificate from the Manoa campus and currently working on my M.Ed from the Manoa campus as well.

West Oahu is still kind of new, even though it's been in the works for decades. it doesn't have much of a reputation, yet.

I know someone who teaches over there, but not in education. On the other hand, it will be more geared to undergraduate education, and that's a good thing. Manoa is a big research university, where undergraduate classes are often taught by graduate students. I was a graduate student and teaching assistant at UHM, and I often think our younger students would be better served at smaller colleges like UH Hilo.

You should know that the State of Hawaii has to hire almost twice as many teachers every year as graduate from UH every year. Some of them come from private universities like BYU-Hawaii and Chaminade. Quite a lot of them come from North America. You should also know that when you adjust for the higher cost of living, Hawaii's teachers may be the worst paid in the nation.

The former dean of the College of Education at UH Manoa told me over lunch several years ago that 80% of the teachers hired locally will still be teaching in Hawaii in 3 or 5 years. About 20% of the teachers hired from North America will still be around. Hey, this is my fourth year! I may have beat the odds!

On the island where I live I hear stories about the teachers who got off the plane and got right back on the next plane out. There was the one who cried for 3 days and then went home. There are plenty who teach for a few months and leave in the middle of the school year. The students tend to treat non-local teachers as disposable. They get that idea from... experience.

This is my fourth year with the HIDOE (Hawaii Department of Education). Right now, as I do this time every year, I am wondering where I will be working and living next year. Those on the island who have managed to teach here for 30 years, who have had children and grandchildren born on this island, have probably taught in every school on the island in order to stay here. The jobs are that unstable.

Until you get tenure, the HIDOE usually advertises your job to see if some tenured teacher somewhere in the state wants to take it from you. Tenure and satisfactory performance is no guarantee you get to keep your position either. The HIDOE talks the talk about building relationships, but they rarely leave you in one school long enough to build many.

There are lots of universities on the mainland where you can probably get a better teacher education course than UH for less money. There are unique aspects to teaching in Hawaii, but I'm not sure how well UH would necessarily prepare you for those, either. There are lots of people who like Hawaii on vacation, but don't really like living here.

Keep your eyes wide open, explore all your options, and make sure you know what you're getting yourself into.

West Oahu is OK but Manoa has a much better reputation.
However, since West Oahu is much cheaper and is part of the UH system, your credits will transfer easily to Manoa. And if you life in West Oahu area, you can avoid the traffic to town!!!

UH-Manoa is the main university campus while UH-West Oahu is considered to be an alternative campus in the UH system. UH-West Oahu just started classes in Fall 2007 and isn't scheduled to completely open it's doors until 2009.

I would suggest you get your basic courses down at one of the community college campuses in the UH system and then transfer to either UH-Manoa or UH-West Oahu.

Since West Oahu is a new campus of UH, I would suggest you go with the campus that makes more sense commute wise to you.

As for where to live, that's completely up to you. Living on campus is great for people that want to be part of the whole college experience or don't want to deal with finding a place to live or cooking their own food. Getting an apartment would definately be cheaper but finding a place to rent isn't always that easy lately.

The West Oahu campus is located in Kapolei so places to live nearby would include the Leeward coast, Mililani, Waipahu, Ewa, Makakilo, and even Pearl City/Aiea. UH-Manoa is located in Manoa so is easily accessible from Hawaii Kai, Kaimuki, Waikiki, and downtown Honolulu.

Hope that helps you.......good luck!