IIT Madras alumni, CSR partners provide financial aid to 100% BTech students

NEW DELHI: Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) alumni and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) have come together to provide financial assistance to 100% BTech students. The eligible students pursuing engineering and other programmes at IIT Madras are getting merit-cum-means, alumni-funded, and government scholarships besides other aids.

The 'Merit-cum-Means' (MCM) scholarship of Rs 66,667 per student is being given to meritorious students pursuing engineering, technology, and science education at the institute. The scholarship is provided to students whose annual parental income is in the range of Rs 1 lakh to Rs 5 lakh for two consecutive years. Students from the Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) categories who are pursuing their degrees in any programme are exempted from paying tuition fees irrespective of their parental income.

A total of Rs 3.30 crore has been reiterated for 495 students for the current fiscal year of 2023-24. Last year, Rs 3.26 crore was distributed to 490 students through this scholarship, as per the institute.

The MCM scholarship is one of the several financial help and scholarship opportunities available to students through IIT Madras, the central and state governments.

“This MCM Scholarship, in combination with the Government of India's two-third tuition fee remission for students in this category, reimburses the complete tuition fee of qualified Tech, dual degree students belonging to the Economically Weaker Section (EWS), Other Backward Class (OBC) categories,” the official statement from IIT Madras said.

Highlighting the importance of such financial support, V Kamakoti, director of IIT Madras, said: “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.”

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IIT Madras financial aid

IIT Madras waives tuition fees for students with family incomes under Rs 1 lakh. IIT Madras scholarships and fellowships are awarded to excellent engineering, technology, and scientific students. Following are some other financial assistance offered by IIT Madras.

• MA students from SC, ST categories with family incomes under Rs 4.5 lakh received free meal facilities, a Rs 250 monthly pocket money, and tuition and hostel seat rent exemptions. 25% of MA students with family incomes under Rs 4.5 lakh received merit scholarships.

• Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) students in MTech programmes receive Half-Time Teaching Assistantships (HTTA) at Rs 12,400 per month. Merit scholarship recipients in the MSc programme received Rs 1,000 per month.

• Engineering PhD students receive Half-Time Teaching Research Assistantships (HTRA) of Rs 37,000 per month for the first two years and Rs 42,000 per month for the next three years.

• The financial aid granted to MS and PhD scholars is up to the amount of Rs 1,50,000, including registration costs.