Kamehameha program expects to dole out $47M
The tuition plan could be extended past an initial three years
STORY SUMMARY »
As many as 720 students are expected to receive scholarships from Kamehameha Schools in the next three academic years to enroll in kindergarten at other private schools.
Beginning in the 2008-09 school year, Kamehameha Schools will award up to $6,000 in tuition aid to 240 students -- with preference for Hawaiians -- through its Pauahi Keiki Scholars Kindergarten Program.
Parents of kindergartners granted the financial assistance in the three-year pilot project will be able to reapply for the subsidies each year until their children graduate, the schools said.
That should cost Kamehameha Schools more than $47 million over 15 years.
FULL STORY »
Kamehameha Schools will award more than $47 million in scholarships in the next 15 years to help 720 kindergartners enroll in and graduate from other private schools in the state.
Scholarship plan
Kamehameha Schools will spend $3.6 million in a three-year pilot project to offer scholarships to students enrolling in kindergarten at other private schools. Here are a few details of the program:
» The Pauahi Keiki Scholars Kindergarten Program will offer students up to $6,000 in tuition aid, with preference given to Hawaiians.
» Families of kindergartners awarded the scholarships can reapply for the funds each year until their children graduate from an independent school.
» Sixty-one private schools statewide are participating in the program.
Source: Kamehameha Schools
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A new Pauahi Keiki Scholars Kindergarten Program will offer students up to $6,000 in tuition aid -- with preference for Hawaiians -- and allow parents to reapply for the funds until their children graduate from an accredited high school, Kamehameha Schools announced yesterday.
The three-year pilot project will benefit 240 children, from a pool exceeding 600 applicants, in the 2008-09 academic year at a cost of $1.2 million, officials said.
Kamehameha Schools said it will evaluate the kindergarten program in its second year to determine whether scholarships could be offered at other grades. There is a chance that the program for kindergartners could continue beyond the three-year pilot program, but the $47 million figure applies only to supporting 720 students through high school.
Families receiving the need-based subsidies this year had the opportunity to choose from 61 participating schools, including 25 rural schools that charge less than $6,000 and 20 schools outside Oahu. Scholarship amounts will be based on a school's tuition price and the parents' ability to pay for it, said Rod Chamberlain, vice president for campus strategies at Kamehameha Schools.
The kindergarten initiative was approved by the Hawaii Probate Court last fall to broaden the schools' Pauahi Keiki Scholars Program that has provided tuition breaks to Hawaiian preschoolers since 2003.
Private schools told the Star-Bulletin last week the expansion is an important step to give more Hawaiians a shot at a high-quality education and increase the ethnic diversity of their campuses.
More important, they said, it follows the 1883 will of Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop, who, according to Kamehameha Schools, set up the educational system to remedy social and economic disadvantages endured by Hawaiians.
Kamehameha admits 160 kindergartners at its Kapalama, Big Island and Maui campuses. However, only about one in eight applicants gets in because of heavy demand generated by a $9 billion-plus charitable trust used to subsidize costs to students.
The kindergarten scholarships, for which applications were due Feb. 29, were announced to families with children either attending Kamehameha Schools preschool or already getting financial aid to study in another private school, as well as in an advertisement posted in the Office of Hawaiian Affairs newsletter, "Ka Wai Ola," which has a circulation of 66,000.
"I think it's great for the families," Renee Yafuso, secretary of Cathedral Catholic Academy, said yesterday about Kamehameha Schools kindergarten scholarships.
The Nuuanu school, which charges $5,800 and enrolls 125 students from K-8, is expecting to accept three students through the scholarships, she said. That means more financial aid should be available for other students through the Augustine Educational Foundation, which helps Hawaii Catholic schools, Yafuso said.
