Music Scholarship Guidelines
The Blinn College Music Department is fortunate to have scholarship opportunities available for students regardless of their declared major. These funds are institutional awards and are not tied to any financial need a student may have. Awarding of these funds is done by a scoring system that includes three main factors:
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Student musical ability
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Recommendation letters
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Program need
In order for a student to be offered any specific scholarship award, all guidelines listed below must be adhered to:
Steps to Complete Ahead of the Upcoming Fall Semester:
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Schedule an audition (Click Here)
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Apply and be accepted to Blinn College through ApplyTexas (Click Here)
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Fill out Instrumental or Vocal Scholarship Application, which includes soliciting at least 1 letter of recommendation from an outside source such as a director or private instructor.
Timeline for Steps to Be Completed
• Students who finish all above steps on or before June 1st are eligible for all tiers of scholarship awarding. Tiers/amounts change from year-to-year dependent upon available funds and volume of auditions received.
• After June 1st and before July 31st, availability of scholarship tiers may be limited, or it could be that an offer of 50% of their scored tier is initially made with the condition that if funds do become available, full awarding can occur up until the start of the semester.
• From August 1st through the start of the next Fall Semester, scholarship awards are not guaranteed, likely being limited to only courses that are not eligible to be covered by any other type of financial aid. Re-evaluation will be done for the spring semester and will be based on original scholarship scoring tier and recommendation from faculty.
Guidelines for Accepting Award
• Once all application/audition steps are completed, candidate will receive email with an official offer, including the dollar amount for the upcoming fall semester as well as an outline of all required coursework. Any communication from the Blinn College Music Department prior to this is considered unofficial and does not constitute a final offer.
• Student must submit a written response accepting their offer. Communication through email is acceptable/preferred.
• Student must follow all guidelines from the Blinn College Admissions Office regarding required documents for college on-boarding and be fully registered for all required classes by July 1st. Failure to be properly registered before July 1st will result in reduction or elimination of scholarship award unless written communication from a member of the department grants an extension. Regardless of declared major, registration must equal or exceed 12 credit hours, including all required courses.
• If for some reason there is an issue with FAFSA, setting up payment plan, or other logistic regarding college finances and the student is dropped for non-payment at the payment deadline (usually around July 15th), student will have 7 business days to correct the situation.
• Student must make themselves available to be on campus for any/all pre-semester activities as required by the appropriate ensemble director. Typically, those begin on or around August 10th. Specific dates will be provided at time of scholarship awarding. In addition, dates for all upcoming fall semester required performances that occur outside of the scheduled class time will also need to be confirmed.
Guidelines for Scholarship Renewals
• In order for a student to maintain their scholarship status for the subsequent spring semester, the student must:
o Maintain a full-time class schedule
o Achieve a cumulative GPA of 2.0 or greater
o Continue enrolling in all required courses. Full Spring registration must be achieved by December 1st
o Demonstrate musical improvement
o Exhibit exemplary participation and punctuality for ALL required activities, both academic and extracurricular
o Uphold a high standard of personal conduct
• Failure to meet any of the above requirements may result in reduction or removal of a scholarship award. Faculty input on this decision will be documented.
• Students who exhibit an outstanding level of improvement and personal dedication to the program will be considered for an increased award. Faculty recommendations will also be factored into this decision.
• Any adjustment to a scholarship award from the original amount will be communicated, in writing, directly to the student by a member of the music department or academic division leadership team.
• Towards the end of the spring semester, students set to return to Blinn College for another academic year will be expected to fill out another application to be considered for their award. That application may or may not include a re-audition. Class registration must take place on or before the last day of the current spring semester.