Photo: Ben Torres

Dual enrollment is one of the most encouraging trends in higher education. Such programs have been shown to boost college attendance and reduce the time it takes for students to earn postsecondary degrees and vocational certificates. 

One of the abiding challenges, however, is that students of color and those from lower-income families tend to be underrepresented. Historically, dual enrollees have typically been whiter and wealthier. A program called P-TECH aims to change that.  

Growing up, Miki Cook never really saw college as a path for himself. That changed when he enrolled at Windward Community College in his 30s.

Today, Cook is pursuing a Ph.D. in education at the University of Hawaii Manoa, while also teaching high school students enrolled in Windward’s early college program. He hopes that effort can address a real challenge in Hawaii: the declining number of Native Hawaiian men enrolled in the state’s university system.