In 1965, its curricula was modified and became an open-door public college administered by the University of Hawaiʻi.

Experiencing rapid growth in the 1970s, the Community College needed larger facilities.

In 1974, the Board of Regents acquired a 52-acre (210,000 m2) parcel of land on the slopes of Diamond Head in Waikīkī, formerly owned by the United States Army.

University of Hawaiʻi Kapiʻolani Community College opened its second campus at Fort Ruger, the only college in the University of Hawaiʻi System to have two campuses of its own.

University of Hawaiʻi Kapiʻolani Community College finally completed the transfer in the late 1980s.