More than 300 Leeward Oahu students are converging on the University of Hawaii at Manoa campus this week to get a taste of college life — and imagine themselves living it one day.

The first-time initiative, funded with Department of Education dollars and private grants, is seen as a way of putting college within reach of disadvantaged students, many of whom don’t include higher education in their post-high school plans.

About a third of the students — ninth-graders from Nanakuli High and eighth-graders from Waianae Intermediate — are staying at UH dorms as part of the program, while the rest will be bused in today.

The program will round out Friday with a ceremony and a formal invitation: Students will get UH certificates of acceptance, guaranteeing them a spot at Manoa, as long as they complete all the requirements. (They’ll have to fulfill the same admissions standards as other incoming freshmen).

Francisco Hernandez, vice chancellor for students at UH-Manoa, said the pre-admission certificates are a strong symbolic gesture aimed at helping students map out exactly what they need to do if they want to pursue a four-year degree at UH.

"It’s motivational. We’re all behind them," he said, adding that this is the first time UH has issued the certificates to such a large group of students.

The visit, which officials hope to make an annual tradition, comes just as students are kicking off a new school year, and as a host of reforms are under way for schools in Leeward Oahu designed to boost student achievement and the graduation rate.

Diana Agor, assistant principal at Nanakuli High, said the college visit makes UH-Manoa "real" for students who may be the first in their families to pursue higher education.

Just 10 percent of Nanakuli High’s class of 2010 enrolled in a four-year college, while 17 percent went to two-year colleges.

At Waianae High, 9 percent of 2010 graduates enrolled in a four-year institution and 27 percent went to a two-year college.

The statewide college-going rate is 50 percent, with 26 percent of students opting to enroll in two-year institutions.

Agor said the pre-admission certificate to UH-Manoa that will be handed out to students is a "visual remembrance and a dream."

"They have it there for when they start to get discouraged," she said. "We’re going to open their eyes to the dream, and then we’re going to support that along the way with workshops and financial education."

Some of that work started this week with talks at UH about what courses students need to take in high school to get into college and how to pay for higher education.

But organizers are also trying to make the visit fun, so the teens associate the campus with more than just daunting responsibilities.

On Wednesday morning, students from Nanakuli and Waianae visited the taro patch at the UH Hawai‘i­nuiakea School of Hawaiian Knowledge, playing games and learning about native Hawaiian cultivating techniques.

A group of students congregated in the shade had good reviews for the college visit so far.

The highlight, they said, was staying in the dorms.

Nanakuli High student Amelia Ceon said she had already planned on going to college. She wants to be a lawyer.

But the visit made her goals seem more doable, she said.

"It makes us believe we’re going to be a better person," she said.

Lyle Tuiloma, a 13-year-old student at Nanakuli, said his dream of going to college is why he plays football. (He’s on the junior varsity team this year and wants to secure a college scholarship.)

Lyle plans to study engineering in college.

He said students in his community often don’t pursue higher education for one of two reasons.

"They’re into drugs or they cannot afford to go to college," he said.

The idea for the students’ visit came out of broader discussions between Leeward public schools and University of Hawaii officials about how to steer more disadvantaged students into postsecondary education.

Deedee Ontai-Machado, a counselor at Nanakuli High, said students need the right skills to get into college.

But they also need to overcome other barriers — including poverty and the perception that college isn’t for them.

"We’re trying to get it internalized that this is doable," she said. "It gives them hope."

During their visit, students are meeting undergraduates who came out of Nanakuli and Waianae schools and with UH faculty from the area.

"We want them to know that this is a place for them," said Maenette Benham, dean of the School of Hawaiian Knowledge. "They need to see that there are employees and students who come from Waianae."