MERIT SCHOLARSHIPS

(Effective: January 15, 2006)

The Kikuchi Music Institute seeks to reward students for high level of achievement through a variety of scholarship incentives. The student must meet general requirements and the type and amount of the scholarship is different according to the event at which the student has earned merit, as specified below:

General Qualifications: 1) The student must have been enrolled at the Kikuchi Music Institute for at least three complete terms and must be currently enrolled for Full Term lessons at the time of the achievement event in order to qualify for a scholarship award; 2) Scholarship awards may be applied only to KMI tuition and are not transferable to other studios or other non-tuition fees charged by KMI; 3) Scholarship awards must be applied only to the tuition for the student who earned the scholarship and are not transferable to any other students; 4) Scholarship awards must be applied only to the private FULL-TERM lesson tuition for the instrument on which the award was earned (e.g. an award for winning a piano competition cannot be applied to violin tuition and cannot be used for "floating lessons"); 5) Scholarship awards must be used within the time frame as specified in these policies or else the scholarship is forfeited.

PPTA Evaluations: As an incentive to participate in and do well at the annual Pittsburgh Piano Teachers Evaluations (May), KMI offers the following scholarship incentive. As additional stipulations of this award, the student must have participated in the PPTA Evaluations in the previous year unless this is the first year the student is participating, and the student must participate in both the theory and performance portions of the examination to qualify. Scholarships earned for high level of achievement at the PPTA Evaluations may be applied only to the tuition for the Fall Term immediately following the evaluations and the student must have been enrolled for a full term of lessons the Summer Term immediately preceding (10 or 12-Lesson Special Summer Enrollment is acceptable). Scholarship levels are determined by final scores as follows:

1) $100 for scoring 100 points on both portions of the examination (perfect score);
2) $50 for scoring at least 99 points on both portions of the examination;
3) $25 for scoring at least 98 points on both portions of the examination.

Bonuses: An additional bonus is added to the above amount of the award if a student has skipped a level in the PPTA Evaluations from the previous year (12 months). The student must have been enrolled at KMI for at least two years, and must have completed Level 2 or higher in order to qualify for this bonus. For the purpose of this bonus, Levels A, B and C are considered the same level, therefore going from Level A to Level 1 is not a skip, but normal progression.

1) $50 Bonus: Any student who is awarded one of the above awards for Level 2 or higher, and who has also skipped one level between the evaluations (in 12 months time) will earn an additional $50 scholarship.
2) $75 Bonus: Any student who is awarded one of the above awards, and who has also skipped two levels between the evaluations (in 12 months time) will earn an additional $75 scholarship.
3) $100 Bonus: Any student who is awarded one of the above awards, and who has also skipped three levels between the evaluations (in 12 months time) will earn an additional $100 scholarship.

Competitions: As an award incentive for high level achievers at competitions, KMI offers lesson-time-based discounts according to the competition prize level awarded. In the event that the scholarship lesson time is greater than the student’s intended enrollment level (e.g. the student is awarded one term of free 30 minute lessons, but is normally enrolled for only 15 min.) then the student must enroll for the full amount of the award in order to apply the full scholarship. Since KMI sets tuition based on total enrollment time of all students on all instruments in one family, the scholarship simply sets the family’s tuition to the level applicable to the reduced combined lesson time (e.g. the family enrolls for 90 min. of weekly lessons, and one student earns a scholarship of 30 min., therefore the actual tuition for the family will be the tuition level for 60 min.) The scholarship awards for first and second prize apply to two terms, as a way of encouraging the student to continue serious study and high level of achievement. The student may choose to apply the scholarship credit to the existing enrollment level, or may take this opportunity to increase enrollment level without increasing tuition (i.e. longer lessons). All other rules of required enrollment time based on program or competition requirements still apply. If application of the scholarship award means that the student will be paying for a full term of 15 min. lessons (which is not specified in the tuition schedules), then the student’s tuition will be equal to 3.75 hours at the base Floating Lesson rate for the student’s program (that is 15 lessons of 15 min. each). All other rules for lesson payment plans will still apply. The lesson time awards are as follows based on what prize level the student has earned:

1) First Prize: one full term of 30 min. lessons for the term immediately following the competition plus one full term of 15 min. lessons for the subsequent term;
2) Second Prize: two full terms of 15 min. lessons, awarded consecutively beginning with the term immediately following the competition;
3) Third Prize: one full term of 15 min. lessons for the term immediately following the competition;
4) Honorable Mention: $50 credit toward full term tuition for the term immediately following the competition, providing the student is enrolled for a minimum of 15 min. of lessons full term on the award bearing instrument (competition award cannot be applied to piano).

Competition Bonuses: KMI recognizes that some competitions are much more competitive than others, and although there is no way to measure the quality of the applicant pool, some determination of difficulty can be assessed based on number of participants (more participants means more competition). The following bonuses will be awarded if the competition had a high number of participants: [This New Policy Effective May 1, 2007.]

1) $25 Bonus: If there were 10 or more participants in the same level of the competition.
2) $50 Bonus: If there were 20 or more participants in the same level of the competition.
3) $100 Bonus: If there were 30 or more participants in the same level of the competition.

Other Events: Since there are many other types of events that might earn a student an award, it is possible that KMI will grant a merit scholarship based on that achievement. If the student would like to apply for scholarship based on an event not listed here, the student must submit a completed scholarship application at least 30 days before the scheduled event and based on the information submitted the director will determine whether an award is merited. The general qualifications still apply. Insufficient information will generally result in denial.