GAMA Merit Scholarship 2023

Our GOAL is to provide an Academic Scholarship grant to eligible student(s) of Greater Austin Malayalee community towards their college expenses.
To be eligible to apply – The parent/applicant should be an active GAMA member as of October 1, 2023
Eligible candidate(s) will be identified by an external group of educators.

Students who are ..

High School Seniors of the graduating class and starting college in the next school year.
Current College students continuing their current course next school year.
Current College students applying for a new course next school year.
College refers to graduate/undergraduate, programs at a recognized university or community college, or trade school.
Applicants must be registered for a full-time course.

Scholarship Amount And Awardees

The scholarship grant amount per individual candidate can range from $1000 to $2500 in a calendar year.
Each year the number of recipients shall be decided by that year’s governing GAMA board.
An applicant will be awarded the GAMA scholarship at most 1 time.

Selection: Some salient features

- All applications will be first screened for eligibility.
- Only applications that meet the eligibility criteria will be reviewed by the independent Selection Panel.
- The panel will shortlist a set of applications and then rank them according to the provided rubric.
- Candidates may be disqualified by the review panel for not meeting a minimum standard or criteria.
- The maximum number of short-listed applicants will be subject to the maximum allowable awardees decided by the GAMA board.
- A candidate must apply every year to be considered for the scholarship program in that year.
- Selection criteria will be different for freshman-year applicants vs. students continuing their college programs.

Selection criteria

- - Must be a member of a family that has an active GAMA membership as of October 1, 2023
  - Parents must have roots and/or hail from Kerala. Applicants should provide proof if requested by GAMA.
  - Must reside within the Greater Austin Metropolitan Area. Valid proof of address must be provided.
  - Selection will be on a merit basis.
  - GYG volunteer directors have an added advantage (only applicable for freshmen)
  - Parents should not be on the GAMA 2023 Board of Directors.

Scholarship Disbursement

The scholarship grant award will be disbursed to the selected awardees by September 15 of the subsequent year.
This shall be done provided the awardee submits proof of enrollment/admission into the eligible program listed earlier.
The onus is on the awardee to provide the requisite proof prior to the disbursement date.
Non-submission of the requisite documents by the cut-off date shall result in forfeiture of the grant.