S. Vishnu Sharma
IIT Madras alumni and CSR partners have rallied together to provide financial support to students whose annual parental income is between Rs 1 lakh to Rs 5 lakh.
The support will be provided for two consequtive years (2022-23 & 2023-24), say sources from IIT Madras.
MCM
The ‘Merit-cum-Means’ (MCM) Scholarship is one among the numerous financial assistance and scholarship support provided to students by IIT Madras, the Central and State Governments.
Students from SC/ST/students admitted in all programs are exempted from paying tuition fees irrespective of their parental income, say sources from IIT Madras.
This MCM Scholarship, in combination with the two-third tuition fee waiver by Government of India for students in this category, covers entire tuition fees of eligible B.Tech./Dual Degree students belonging to EWS/GE/OBC Categories, say students from IIT Madras.
This support frees up the students to focus completely on their studies and future academic pursuits without having to worry about their financial situation or education loans.
Director of IIT Madras
Director of IIT Madras, Prof V Kamakoti highlighted the importance of such financial support.
‘We are trying our best to provide as much financial support as possible to our students in need.
We convey our immense thanks to the donors for making this happen,’ said IIT Madras director.
Amount
While Rs. 3.26 crore was disbursed to 490 students during 2022-23 under this scholarship, a sum of Rs. 3.30 crore has been committed for 495 students during the current financial year of 2023-24, say sources from IIT Madras.
The Scholarship per student is Rs. 66,667, which is split into two halves and disbursed during each of the two semesters per academic year.
Alumni and Donors
Prof. Mahesh Panchagnula, Dean (Alumni and Corporate Relations), IIT Madras thanked the alumni and donors for their contributions towards students’ welfare.
It is extremely gratifying that our office has been able to ensure that no financially needy student was not covered by full scholarship for two consecutive years, he said.
We express our deepest gratitude to all alumni and corporate partners who have supported this program, said Prof Mahesh of IIT Madras.
Students Speak
Highlighting how the scholarship came as a relief from financial stress, Mr. Aksshith G, an IIT Madras student who benefitted from the MCM Scholarship, said, “I am the first person in the family to get a proper engineering degree and I guess, I made my family proud.
Scholarships help me to pay off the tuition fee and hostel fee from IIT Madras without any burden on my family particularly, he said.
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Ms. Saisri S. said, “What got me into IIT Madras was my father’s dream to get me here. Before I was born, he was working here.
During his daily wages once, he visited IIT Madras, he saw that it was a very prestigious institution, she said.
So, he had a dream to make me study here. That is what got into me, and which made me really want to get into IIT Madras, she said.
Coming into IIT Madras when checking the fee and curriculum in the Institute website, I got to know that the ACR Office gets a fee waiver through alumni scholarship.
After I joined, I got an email (on this scholarship), she said.
Mr. Aneesh Amuloju said, “Now that the financial burden part of it has gone, it has helped me think and focus on my studies, my goals, dreams and what I really want to accomplish in life.
Mr. Soham Shah said, “When we did not know anything about scholarships, we just had an idea that we would start searching out but when I got the mail regarding the scholarship, I was really happy.
Getting the scholarship has instilled the confidence into myself that if I focus on my studies, and if I plan for further studies, whether it be Harvard or anything else, what I need to focus on is not the financial issues of my family but my capabilities of learning.
If I do my work properly, there are people, the alumni of those great institutions, who help the students out, including me, he said.
Other Financial Assistances
Financial assistance in the form of scholarships and fellowships are given to meritorious students who are pursuing engineering, technology, and science education at IIT Madras.
Alumni-funded scholarships are available to the highest-scoring students based on their academic performances.
Students whose annual parental income is below Rs 1 lakh have a full tuition fee waiver at IIT Madras.
The SC/ST students admitted to the M.A. programme with a parental income less than Rs 4.5 lakh were sanctioned concessions of free mess facilities, a pocket allowance of Rs 250 per month, and an exemption from the payment of tuition fees and hostel seat rent.
Over 25 percent of the students admitted to the M.A. programme and whose parental income is less than Rs 4.5 lakh were also sanctioned Merit Scholarships.
Further, Scholarships sanctioned by NCERT, Central and State governments are provided to meritorious students pursuing the B.Tech. programme in IIT Madras.
The Tamil Nadu Scholarship is provided by the Directorate of Backward Class/Directorate of Most Backward class.
Students who join the M.Tech. programme through the Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) are awarded Half-Time Teaching Assistantships (HTTA) at ₹12,400 per month.
Students admitted to the M.Sc programme were sanctioned ₹1,000 per month under the merit scholarship.
Exemptions from the payment of tuition fees were also given to students.
The scholars admitted to full-time Ph.D. programmes in engineering are sanctioned Half-Time Teaching/Research Assistantships (HTRA) of ₹37,000 per month for the first two years and ₹42,000 per month for the next three years.
The Institute encourages research scholars to present papers in international conferences, for which they are given financial assistance.
The financial assistance provided to M.S. and Ph.D. scholars is up to the limit of ₹1,50,000, including registration fees, say sources from IIT Madras.