Hawaii Community College — Palamanui will be open for the first day of class on Aug. 25, Director Kenneth “Marty” Fletcher said Thursday.
Fletcher is scheduled to give an update on the college next week to the County Council Committee on Governmental Relations and Community Development.
“It’s going to be tight, but everything’s coming together,” Fletcher said.
He said it’s just like moving from your home, when there’s always a list of last-minute details.
South Kona/Ka‘u Councilwoman Maile David said she asked Fletcher to give a presentation to bring the public up to speed on the progress of the university and its potential.
”This would help bring awareness to our island communities about this much needed educational resource,” David said. “Classes are set to begin on Aug. 24, and providing information about these much needed educational opportunities through a presentation before the council prior to Aug. 24 was timely. It also affords another venue in which to increase community awareness.”
The meeting will start at 9 a.m. Thursday at the West Hawaii Civic Center. The public can testify at that location or by videoconference from council chambers in Hilo, the Waimea council office, the county facility in Kohala, the Naalehu state office building or the Pahoa neighborhood facility.
Palamanui will not be a stand-alone campus, because in large part to the expense of achieving and maintaining accreditation. Instead, the center will be a branch campus under Hawaii Community College’s accreditation.
Gifts and endowments have jump-started culinary and marine science programs at the college.
In addition, the campus will offer on-site and distance education delivered classes and degree programs from Hawaii Community College, the University of Hawaii at Hilo, UH-Manoa and UH-West Oahu.
The $25 million, 24,000-square-foot center in Kealakekua received a boost from developers of Palamanui, who have provided the initial $20 million in preliminary funding and infrastructure.
The UH system plans to ultimately build four phases capable of serving 1,500 full-time students, but there is not yet a timeline for the expansion. The college must significantly boost its current enrollment of 400 full-time students and show the demand is there, Fletcher said.
Once the new center becomes established and shows the community what it can deliver, the administration can begin identifying areas of need that could be served by an expansion.
University system officials describe Palamanui not as an independent two-year or four-year campus but a gateway center, where students can access courses — many of them via teleconference — from across the university system.