Lithuanian Foundation Scholarship Program - Application Guidelines

The scholarship application deadline for the 2012 - 2013 school year will be October 10, 2012.

Scholarship applications will be available on our website on September 1, 2012.

Please review the following information before completing the LF Scholarship application below.

The Lithuanian Foundation believes that students who are active in their community are developing leadership skills that will benefit them and those around them in the future. The Foundation concentrates its resources on those students who have demonstrated an involvement and volunteerism in the Lithuanian community or in the community at large.  As such, the Lithuanian Foundation strives to ensure the continuity of the Lithuanian culture and traditions by contributing to the development of future leaders in the Lithuanian community.

Funding Priorities

The Lithuanian Foundation is an émigré organization. As such, priorities are given to students studying outside the borders of Lithuania. In some cases, donor members have established special funds to support areas of study in Lithuania proper. You can familiarize yourself with special funds and their suported areas here.

Lithuanian Foundation supports only full-time students of Lithuanian heritage, pursuing undergraduate (see below for exceptions for students from Lithuania) and graduate degrees, based on the following priorities:

1. US citizens;
2. US permanent residents (“green card” holders);
3. Graduate students from Lithuania, studying in Lithuania;
4. Graduate students from Lithuania, studying with a student visa in the US or elsewhere abroad;
5. South American students studying the Lithuanian language at “Vasario 16-osios” Lithuanian High School in Germany or educational institutions in Lithuania.
6. Students, studying or doing research in Lithuanian linguistics, literature, and folklore or Lithuanian history and holding a full-time status at a Lithuanian university are eligible for support from special funds. This support, however, may be used only to cover tuition costs, and may not be used to pay living or travel expenses, or for the awarding of any prizes. Individual courses are not funded.

Restrictions

The Lithuanian Foundation grants scholarships for one academic year at a time.  Applicants will need to submit applications each academic year in their degree program. The Foundation will not consider the scholarship requests if:

1. the student is not of Lithuanian heritage;
2. the applicant is enrolled in a part-time course of study. Only those enrolled in a full time course of study will be considered;
3. the student is enrolled in associate or certificate program. Only those pursuing a Bachelor’s (see below for exceptions for students from Lithuania), Master’s, or Doctoral degree program will be considered;
4. the students is not yet accepted by an accredited college, university or other academic institution;
5. the applicant does not have a citizenship or appropriate visa for the country in which he wishes to study;
6. the student is a Lithuanian citizen enrolled in a Bachelor‘s degree program in Lithuania or a foreign country (except permanent residents [“green card” holders] in the US). The support for the Lithuanian students seeking undergraduate degree in Lithuania might be allocated from the special funds.You can familiarize yourself with special funds and allocation of 2011 grants here.
7. the scholarship application is not fully completed.

Review Process

All requested documentation submitted by the application deadline will be reviewed by the Scholarship Subcommittee, which might also request supplementary documentation during the review process. The Scholarship Subcommittee meets and deliberates final recommendations for scholarships which are then presented to the Grants Committee during its allocation meeting. 

Approval of Scholarships

The Grants Committee presents all scholarship and project grant recommendations to the Lithuanian Foundation Board of Directors, which has final approval of each allocation.
 

Generally, an applicant should expect notification of whether a scholarship has been granted by post or email. The notification date will be announced by January 2012. Scholarships checks are issued in the name of the scholarship recipient in January 2013. The check for those who study in the US will be sent directly to the university, while for those who study in Lithuania and other countries – personally to the recipient.
 

The Foundation can only fund a fraction of the requests that are reviewed. In some cases, excellent applicants cannot be funded because of funding limitations. A denial of a scholarship is not to be seen as a reflection on the quality of the applicant.

How to Apply

The Foundation uses an electronic application process that requires that all supplementary documentation be attached to the application before the application can be submitted. Supplementary documentation might be in Lithuanian or English. Translations must be presented to documents in other languages. Completion of the application form in Lithuanian is preferred, though not required.

As there is only one scholarship allocation period each year, additional funding will not be available until new applications are accepted in 2013.

In order to remove the application from “draft” status, applicants will have to click “submit”. If any of the required documentation is missing, the submission will not go through. Applicants should, therefore, begin collecting required documentation as soon as possible. If technical difficulties interfere with attachment of a document, the Foundation must by contacted by email at admin@lithfund.org by October 7, 2012 for an exception.  Without an exception letter from the Foundation office, the application will be considered late and will be deliberated only if there are funds available after applications submitted by the deadline are reviewed.

The scholarship application deadline for the 2012 - 2013 school year will be October 10, 2012.

Scholarship applications will be available on our website on September 1, 2012

Recommended Steps, Required Documentation

Request/obtain all other required documentation in time to be attached to the application by the midnight of October 10 of 2012. You will need to attach:

1. Passport size photograph;
2. Copies of your birth certificate, passport, Permanent Resident Card or other documentation of citizenship; 
3. Non-citizen applicants wishing to study in the US or any other country must attach a copy of a valid student visa signed by the student. Applicants wishing to study in the US must present a copy of US student visa (e.g. F-1) and a copy of I-20 form issued by your university. Both copies have to be signed by the student;
4. Latest official transcript showing current GPA. A transcript stamped “issued to student” is acceptable, but a print out from the internet is not. First semester university students may provide a copy of a High School Transcript;
5. Letter of enrollment (in the US, or its equivalent in other countries) from the academic institution that would verify student’s status for 2012 - 2013 school year;
6. Two recommendations: At least one recommendation from a professor/teacher at your current school. If the professor objects and wants to mail the recommendation directly to the Foundation, the office will attach the recommendation to your application. The second recommendation can be from a leader of an organization in which you are actively involved. Recommendations from family and friends are not acceptable. ATTENTION: Both recommendations have to be written not earlier than in 2012. It is the applicant’s responsibility to make sure that recommendations are received on time. Thus, we strongly recommend asking for recommendations as early as possible. Without them your application will be incomplete, and it may not be processed for review;
7. Downloaded and completed form: “LF MOKSLAS IR VEIKLA / EDUCATON”;
8. Downloaded and completed form: “LF STIPENDIJŲ FINANSAI / FINANCIALS”;
9. Copy of the financial aid letter from the academic institution you will be attending, showing expected scholarships and aid, even if the letter indicates no aid will be forthcoming;
10. Copy of the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid), GAPSFAS (Graduate And Professional School Financial Aid Service) or other financial information forms provided to the institution. Instead of the FAFSA, students from Lithuania must attach an official statement from the university stating how much tuition you will be expected to pay. A generic statement of tuition costs from the internet is not acceptable;

Additional Information

Applicants who completed on line applications in 2010 or 2011 can log on using the same user name and password and print the packet to see information from previous years. The packet will be in PDF format. If you have not saved uploaded documents in your computer, you can select portions of the PDF and copy/paste into separate documents. If you sent documents you need for the current application process directly to the Foundation offices, you will not be able to see them.

Updated: 2/1/2012