Funding for the UH Mānoa College of Education (COE) Grow Our Own Teachers Initiative (GOO) has been renewed for $1 million for 2027–2028. This will mark the tenth year that the COE and Hawaiʻi Department of Education (HIDOE) have partnered to offer tuition stipends to students admitted to select COE School of Teacher Education (STE) programs.*
“Since I already took out loans for my undergraduate degree, GOO has been enormously helpful financially and by extension mentally,” said Chris Yamamoto who earned a Post-Baccalaureate Certificate in Secondary English. “With the help of GOO, I had no second thoughts enrolling in the post-bacc program, and I am so excited to be able to serve the community and teach Hawaii’s public school students full time this coming school year.”
GOO recipients are required to be Hawaiʻi residents committed to teaching in a Hawaiʻi public school for three years after graduation. Priority is given to HIDOE employees, including emergency hires, substitutes, and educational assistants, as well as to those who are seeking licensure in a Federal Teacher Shortage Area.**
“This initiative has been impactful to me because it lessened the burden regarding tuition costs and the need for part-time employment while going through my SATEP,” said Quinn Griffiths who graduated with an MEdT in May. “GOO aligned with my career goals of wanting to teach at a HIDOE Public School.”
Launched in 2018, the Grow Our Own Teachers Initiative began offering scholarship stipends with generous support from the State Legislature and leadership of the former Hawaiʻi State Senate Vice President Michelle Kidani who retired on June 30, 2026. There have been 296 GOO stipend recipients to date.
Interested applicants are invited to RSVP to an Online Informational Session on August 26 or September 15 to receive more information.
Applications (due Oct. 1st): https://go.hawaii.edu/Frx
*COE Priority Programs
- Post-Baccalaureate Certificate in Secondary
- MEdT in Secondary
- BEd in Elementary & Hawaiian Language Immersion
- Post-Baccalaureate Certificate in Elementary
- MEdT in Elementary.
**Federal Teacher Shortage Areas
- Hawaiian Immersion
- Hawaiian Language
- English
- English as Second Language (ESL; also known as ELL, MLL, or TESOL)
- Mathematics
- Science
- Special Education (please go to https://coe.hawaii.edu/sped/sped-stipends/)
- World Languages
