SPOKANE, Wash. — Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin attended two colleges in Hawai'i during one semester, according to a published biography and her spokeswoman.

According to a biography — "Sarah" by Kaylene Johnson — Palin and three friends went to the University of Hawai'i-Hilo after graduation from high school in Alaska in 1982. But they left after a few weeks because of the constant rain there, the book said.

The registrar at the school has no record that she ever enrolled, school officials said Thursday.

Palin, then known as Sarah Louise Heath, and a friend then traveled to Honolulu and enrolled at Hawai'i Pacific College (later Hawai'i Pacific University). She attended only as a freshman during the fall of 1982, school spokeswoman Crystale Lopez said.

She was in the business administration program as a full-time student, Lopez said Thursday.

"We're trying to track down someone who knew her," Lopez added.

From Hawai'i Pacific, Palin transferred to North Idaho College, a two-year school in Coeur d'Alene, about 30 miles east of Spokane. She attended the college as a general studies major for two semesters, in spring 1983 and fall 1983, spokeswoman Stacy Hudson said.

"We were not able to track down club affiliations or anything," Hudson said.

The school identified one of her professors but he did not remember her, Hudson said.

Before her selection by U.S. Sen. John McCain as her running mate, the North Idaho College Alumni Association notified Palin in June she would be the recipient of its 2008-2009 Distinguished Alumni of the Year Award.

From North Idaho College, Palin transferred 70 miles south to the University of Idaho, the state's flagship institution. She majored in journalism with an emphasis in broadcast news. She attended Idaho from fall 1984 to spring 1985.

She then returned to Alaska to attend Matanuska-Susitna College in Palmer in fall 1985.

Then she returned to Idaho for spring 1986, fall 1986 and spring 1987, when she graduated. Despite her journalism degree, she does not appear to have worked for the college newspaper or campus TV station, school officials said. She worked briefly as a sportscaster for KTUU in Anchorage after she graduated from college.

In an e-mailed message yesterday, Palin's spokeswoman Maria Comella confirmed Palin attended four colleges, including the two in Hawai'i and two in Idaho, but did not include the fifth school that the biography lists, Matanuska-Susitna College.

Palin, the governor of Alaska, was born in Idaho. Her family moved when she was only a few months old to Alaska, where she was raised.

The Associated Press and Bloomberg News Service contributed to this report.