WASHINGTON, DC–Upakar Foundation, dedicated to helping US nationals of Indian descent attend college, is inviting applications for providing tuition scholarships based on academic excellence and financial need.
Upakar opened its application window for 2022 Upakar Scholarships on March 1, 2022. Applicants wishing to apply for a scholarship must submit their applications no later than April 30, 2022. General application criteria are below. Full application criteria can be found on the Upakar website, https://upakar.org.
Upakar Scholarships are $2,000 per year for Scholars attending a 4-year undergraduate program, and $500 per year for Scholars attending a community college program.
The applicant must be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident. Financial need is determined by the family’s adjusted gross income. Scholars must have attained a raw high school GPA above 3.6. As long as a scholar’s GPA exceeds 3.3 in college, Upakar will renew the $2,000 annual scholarship for up to four years. Upakar Community College Scholarships provide $500 per year for up to two years; and if the Scholar transfers to a 4-year program, Upakar will increase its commitment to $2,000 annually until the Scholar has received a total of four years of scholarship support. Upakar Textbook Scholarships are one-time awards of $250.
Upakar has 24 Scholars attending their respective colleges in the 2021-2022 academic year, at various stages in their undergraduate degree programs.
Upakar was founded in 1997 in the Washington DC metropolitan area to provide highly qualified college-bound Indian-American students with need-based tuition assistance so that they could graduate without a crushing burden of college debt. According to 2015 data collected by the Pew Research Center, approximately 7.5% of Indians in the US live in poverty. US Census Bureau data for 2018 set the poverty threshold for a family of four at $25,465.
Upakar has awarded 179 scholarships for more than $700,000 to students who meet the criteria of being born in India or who have at least one Indian-born parent.
For more information and to learn how you can help support Upakar, please visit www.upakar.org.
