For Hawaii high school students, the cost of submitting applications to colleges can add up, so they must be judicious about the choices on their list.

The University of Hawaii wants to be on that list. So for Hawaii residents, it is waiving application fees for UH-Manoa ($70) and UH-West Oahu ($50). UH-Hilo already waived its fee, and the community colleges don’t require one, so now the policy is uniform across the system.

It may not seem like a lot of money compared to tuition, but the application is where the higher education journey starts. Why not make it easier to take that first step?