Kamehameha Schools is ending a financial aid program that helped thousands of Hawaiian families pay for tuition at other private schools over the last two decades.

The Kipona Scholarship, which grew out of an effort by Kamehameha in the mid-2000s to reach more Native Hawaiian students than the institution could serve on its own campuses, provided $7.1 million in aid to students last year.

Current recipients of the need-based scholarship will be able to continue reapplying for financial aid from Kamehameha, but new applications will no longer be accepted.

The phase-out of the scholarship program is part of a move to focus on programs that more closely align with Kamehameha’s goals to provide education rooted in Hawaiian culture, according to a written statement from the Pauahi Foundation.

The foundation, a nonprofit that manages and fundraises for financial aid programs related to Kamehameha, said in its statement that future scholarship programs will be developed in collaboration with families, as well as donors to the foundation. 

The foundation will also get input from its partner organizations, “so we can better serve their specific needs and the populations they uplift.”

The scholarship began as financial aid for students entering kindergarten and was later expanded to cover students in other grades. Most recently, it supported students entering middle and high school.

Gaining admission to Kamehameha is difficult, and at one point, the school combined its admissions application with an application for the Kipona Scholarship for students who ended up attending other private schools.

It was Kamehameha’s third-largest scholarship offering for non-KS students, behind aid for college students and preschoolers. Last year, the school awarded nearly $39.5 million in external scholarship money overall, according to the school’s annual report filed with the state probate court.

Kamehameha distributed $7.1 million to 828 Kipona Scholarship recipients in 2024. Over the years, about 36% of eligible applicants who applied for the scholarship were ultimately awarded aid, the data showed.

Financial aid for the current school year has already been disbursed. What impacts, if any, schools could see as a result of the program coming to an end for new applicants may not become apparent until next school year during the new application cycle, according to the financial aid office of St. Joseph High School on the Big Island.

Students of the all-boys Saint Louis School have been major recipients of aid from Kamehameha. President Glenn Medeiros said in a written statement that Kamehameha has been “very generous toward Native Hawaiian students and their families over the years.”

“Those programs have had a very positive impact on our Hawaiian families,” Medeiros said. “Although some of those programs change over time, we are confident that Kamehameha Schools will continue to do all they can to support the education of Native Hawaiians everywhere.” 

Awards for the Kipona Scholarship consider a family’s financial need and tuition costs. Kamehameha has reported that its average award for the scholarship was around $7,700 each year.

An award preference was given to applicants of Native Hawaiian ancestry, and the scholarship required parents to work a minimum of 20 community service hours for students in the sixth grade and up.

In 2020, more than 69% of awardees came from the ʻEwa, Kona and Koʻolau regions of Oʻahu, 13% came from the Big Island, less than 5% from Maui County, 4.6% each from Waiʻanae and Waialua, and 2.5% from Kauaʻi, according to data from the school that year.

Scholarships for preschool and college students are still available through the Pauahi Foundation.

Kamehameha distributed $33.8 million in internal financial aid to more than 4,000 of the 7,100 students enrolled in its campuses, according to financial reports. That aid is on top of significantly reduced tuition costs at Kamehameha compared to other private schools.

The school’s admissions policy giving preference to Hawaiian students is being challenged in federal court by Virginia-based Students for Fair Admissions, a group that won cases against Harvard and the University of North Carolina that struck down affirmative action in the college admissions process.

Kamehameha has yet to officially appear in the case. On Monday, the court approved applications from a handful of mainland attorneys to represent the Fair Admissions group in the Hawaiʻi U.S. District Court. 

The case has also been reassigned to federal Judge Micah Smith after Judge Leslie Kobayashi recused herself from the case. Kobayashi did not give a reason for her recusal.

Civil Beat’s education reporting is supported by a grant from Chamberlin Family Philanthropy.