Twenty Christian colleges and universities are sending representatives to Honolulu next Monday, September 28, giving local students a rare shot at face-to-face conversations with admissions officers from schools scattered across the mainland. The gathering runs from 6 to 8 p.m. at Hawaiʻi Baptist Academy's Stan Sagert High School Campus on Pali Highway, and organizers say it's open to anyone in the community, not just HBA families.
Hawaiʻi Baptist Academy is bringing the schools together for local students and families to explore higher-education options, according to KHON2. Erica Miles, HBA's director of communications and public relations, said the fair offers one-on-one conversations with college representatives and a chance to explore many schools in a single evening. Participating institutions include Azusa Pacific University, Biola University, California Baptist University, Point Loma Nazarene University, Westmont College, George Fox University and Whitworth University.
Why Mainland Schools Keep Showing Up
The Honolulu event isn't a one-off. It's part of a coordinated Fall 2026 circuit run by the North American Coalition for Christian Admissions Professionals, which paired the Oahu fair with a Maui event held two days earlier at Maui Christian Academy in Paia, per the group's own event listing filed with NACCAP. Whitworth University is among the mainland schools represented at the Hawaii fair.
The timing also lines up with the calendar rather than by coincidence. The HBA fair lands just ahead of the National Association for College Admission Counseling's Honolulu National College Fair, set for September 29 at the Neal S. Blaisdell Center and expected to draw roughly 3,000 attendees. Together the two events turn the final week of September into one of the busiest college-recruitment stretches on Oahu all year.
Why Hawaii Is a Recruiting Target
The heavy mainland presence traces back to a well-documented pattern in island education: College Board data cited by Honolulu Civil Beat shows more than 51 percent of Hawaii high schoolers who take standardized college entrance or placement exams end up attending school out of state. That exodus has drawn mainland admissions offices to Hawaii.
Students attending the fair can learn about academics, campus life, admissions requirements, scholarships and financial aid directly from the visiting reps. Miles recommends that students research participating schools ahead of time and come prepared with questions about majors, housing, admissions, scholarships and campus life. She also suggested keeping an open mind, encouraging students to talk with representatives from schools they hadn't previously considered.
A Campus With Deep Local Roots
Hosting the fair is itself a nod to HBA's long history in Hawaii's religious education landscape. Founded in 1949 by Southern Baptist missionaries with just 36 students, the school has grown into one of Oahu's largest independent institutions, now serving more than 1,100 students across grades K-12. The high school campus where Monday's fair takes place is named for Col. Stan Sagert, a B-24 combat pilot who became school president in 1970 and spent 17 years expanding facilities and stabilizing the school's finances, including helping lead the acquisition and construction of the Pali Highway site.
HBA remains affiliated with the Hawaii Pacific Baptist Convention, an umbrella body of regional Baptist churches. The school reports that 100 percent of its recent graduating classes have earned acceptances to colleges and universities both in Hawaii and on the mainland, a track record it leans on as part of its college-preparatory identity. For the 2026-2027 school year, HBA's annual K-12 tuition runs $23,580, plus mandatory student activity fees between $720 and $1,200, placing it within the broader range of private school costs across Oahu.
Families interested in Monday's fair can find more information on the school's website.
