Which University of Hawaiʻi four-year degree programs have the lowest shares of graduates remaining in Hawaiʻi five and ten years after graduation?
Workforce Understory Episode: Episode Two — Understanding Underemployment
Geography: Statewide
Topic: Graduate retention, labor-market alignment, degree outcomes, and economic opportunitylity
The takeaway
Five years after graduation, Philosophy and Religious Studies has the lowest retention rate among the University of Hawaiʻi four-year programs shown, with only 27% of graduates remaining in Hawaiʻi.
Multi/Interdisciplinary Studies and Physical Sciences follow at 39%.
By year ten, Philosophy and Religious Studies remains among the lowest-retention fields at 31%. Physical Sciences falls to 33%, while Mathematics and Statistics retains only 37% of graduates.
Multi/Interdisciplinary Studies appears among the lowest-retention programs at both five and ten years, suggesting that its pattern persists over time.
Several of Hawaiʻi’s lowest-retention degree programs prepare graduates for fields that may have relatively few local employers or clearly defined career destinations.
What this visualization shows
This visualization identifies the University of Hawaiʻi four-year degree programs with the lowest shares of graduates remaining in Hawaiʻi five and ten years after graduation.
The programs shown span several different fields, but many share a common characteristic: the relationship between the degree and the local labor market may be less direct than it is in fields such as Nursing, Education, or Engineering.
Philosophy and Religious Studies has the lowest retention at year five and remains near the bottom at year ten. Physical Sciences also appears among the lowest-retention fields at both points. Mathematics and Statistics enters the lowest-retention group by year ten, while Multi/Interdisciplinary Studies shows persistently low retention across time.
These patterns do not necessarily indicate that the programs are ineffective or lack value.
Graduates may develop strong analytical, research, communication, and problem-solving skills. But Hawaiʻi may offer relatively few jobs explicitly connected to some of these fields, particularly at the scale needed to retain a large share of graduates.
The visualization therefore points toward a possible mismatch between what students study and the range of opportunities the local economy can absorb.
Why this matters
A degree can prepare someone well for a career while still leading them away from Hawaiʻi.
Graduates in the Physical Sciences, Mathematics and Statistics, Philosophy, or interdisciplinary fields may pursue research, graduate education, technology, consulting, policy, academia, or other specialized careers. Many of those pathways are available at greater scale in larger labor markets.
When Hawaiʻi lacks sufficient employers, research institutions, graduate programs, or specialized positions, leaving may become the most practical way for graduates to use the skills they developed.
That is not necessarily a failure of the student or the academic program. It may reflect the structure of the economy.
At the same time, persistent low retention raises important questions about the relationship between higher education and workforce strategy. If Hawaiʻi continues educating graduates in fields with few local career destinations, the state must decide whether to accept that some programs will primarily prepare people for opportunities elsewhere—or invest in creating stronger local pathways for them.
Those pathways may not always carry the same name as the degree. Mathematics graduates may be valuable in analytics, finance, education, technology, public policy, and government. Physical Sciences graduates may contribute to renewable energy, environmental management, healthcare, engineering, agriculture, and climate research. Philosophy graduates may bring reasoning and communication skills to law, public service, education, and organizational leadership.
The challenge may therefore be partly about employer demand and partly about helping employers recognize and use the transferable skills these graduates possess.
This evidence invites Hawaiʻi to ask:
Are graduates leaving because their skills are not needed here—or because Hawaiʻi has not yet built enough pathways that allow them to use those skills locally?
Evidence:
Questions this visualization helps answer
Which program has the lowest retention five years after graduation?
Which fields remain among the lowest-retention programs at year ten?
Which programs show persistently low retention across both periods?
Do low-retention patterns appear concentrated in particular types of academic fields?
How does retention change as graduates gain experience and progress through their careers?
Which degree pathways appear least connected to long-term employment in Hawaiʻi?
Curiosity:
Questions this visualization raises
Are graduates leaving because Hawaiʻi lacks jobs directly related to their fields?
Are they leaving because larger labor markets offer stronger wages, specialization, research opportunities, or advancement?
Do any of the lowest-retention programs produce relatively strong wage outcomes despite losing graduates?
Which occupations do graduates from Philosophy, Physical Sciences, Mathematics and Statistics, and Multi/Interdisciplinary Studies enter?
Are graduates working in fields that use their transferable skills even when the job title is unrelated to their degree?
How many graduates leave Hawaiʻi to pursue graduate or professional education?
Do they return after completing additional education or gaining experience?
Which local employers could make better use of graduates with analytical, research, quantitative, and communication skills?
Could sectors such as renewable energy, climate science, data analytics, public policy, technology, agriculture, or environmental management create stronger destinations for these graduates?
Are students informed about the limited number of local jobs directly connected to some degree programs?
How do retention patterns differ by campus, island of origin, family ties, race, gender, income, or first-generation status?
Does low retention reflect student preference, economic necessity, or both?
Are graduates leaving because of Hawaiʻi’s cost of living even when relevant jobs exist?
Which low-retention fields could support Hawaiʻi’s future economy if stronger employer demand were developed?
What role could internships, research experiences, employer partnerships, and career navigation play in connecting these degrees to local work?
Should Hawaiʻi attempt to expand industries that can absorb these graduates, or accept that some programs will prepare students for national and global careers?
What indicators would show whether local career opportunities for these graduates are improving over time?
