What a difference a decade makes. Of the full-time freshmen entering the University of Hawaii at Manoa in 2012, 32.1 percent earned a bachelor’s degree within four years to graduate on time this year — nearly double the rate for freshman entering in 2006.

Much of the credit goes to a UH-Manoa undergraduate education office that put in place initiatives ranging from increasing availability of introductory courses to automatically registering all incoming freshmen for their first semester of courses. Also prompting the faster pace is cost. At Manoa, where annual full-time resident tuition is $10,872, 37 percent of undergraduates have taken out federal loans.

ZipMobile malfunction brings back bad memories

One can only imagine the tense 90 minutes or so at the state Transportation Department on Monday morning, when the ZipMobile experienced mechanical problems in Waimalu that caused temporary closure of the ZipperLane. The vehicle stalled at 4:48 a.m., just before the morning rush hour, and though repairs were done about 6:15 a.m., ZipperLane opening was pushed back to 6:45 a.m. from the normal 5:30 a.m. The blip brought up bad memories of last year: in March, when a malfunctioning ZipMobile left a stretch of the H-1 freeway’s ZipLane partially closed, causing widespread gridlock and leaving motorists stranded for hours.