The Rama Scholarship for the American Dream
| JHM Hotels, Inc. established the Rama Scholarship for the American Dream with a $1,000,001 endowment. The five Rama brothers, principals in the company, emigrated from India to pursue their American Dream. It began with the ownership of one lodging property and grew into a successful operation of 35 properties with 5,000 rooms and more than 1,100 associates. The fund, established on the 25th anniversary of the brothers' first hotel purchase, encourages others to create their own American Dream. Participating schools select the recipients and preference is given to students of Asian-Indian descent and other minority groups as well as JHM Hotel employees. Since its inception in 1998 the Rama Scholarship Fund has awarded $491,450 in scholarships to 287 recipients. |
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Eligibility Criteria
Minimum eligibility criteria for nominees are:
• Enrolled at least 9 credit hours for upcoming fall and spring semesters, or just the fall semester if graduating in December
• Undergraduate or graduate hospitality management major
• Have a minimum 2.5 GPA
• A U.S. citizen or permanent U.S. resident
Scholarship Awards
Award amounts can range from $1,000 to $3,000 depending upon enrollment and recommended amount from school.
Rama Scholarships are School Nominated, which means students are nominated by their respective schools. Schools must give preference to students of Asian-Indian descent and other minority groups, as well as JHM employees and their dependents. If you're attending a school participating in the Rama Scholarship Program, request nomination through AH&LEF's Designated Contact Person, or contact Christa Boatman at 202-289-3139 / cboatman@ahlef.org or Michelle Poinelli at 202-289-3181 / mpoinelli@ahlef.org for more information. All student nominees must complete all sections of the AH&LEF Scholarship Application.
Additionally, under separate cover, participating schools are required to send a nomination form confirming their nominees and suggested award amounts. AH&LEF will not consider applicants without nomination verification from their respective schools. AH&LEF academic scholarship applications are only accepted from January 1 to May 1 each year. Please note that any applications received from May 2 through December 31 will not be reviewed because the information provided will be outdated for the next school year.
The following 13 hospitality management schools have been designated to participate in the program:
• Bethune-Cookman College
• California State Polytechnic University
• Cornell University
• Florida International University
• Georgia University
• Greenville Technical College
• Howard University
• Johnson & Wales University
• New York University
• University of Central Florida
• University of Houston
• University of South Carolina
• Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Recent Recipients
Click here to view the list of 2009 Rama Scholarship recipients.
"I would like to thank the American Hotel & Lodging Educational Foundation for awarding me with the Rama Scholarship for the American Dream. This scholarship gave me a lending hand and made things financially more comfortable. It also prevented me from having to become a full-time employee in order to continue my college education. Now I can continue to focus on what is most important to me right now, good grades. Thank you again for believing and supporting in my dream of becoming a General Hotel Manager.”
Tania Soleimanzadeh
Georgia State University
2008 Rama Scholar for the American Dream
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