Types Of Scholarships Available In India

By Author: Rajat Kumar
Total Articles: 52

The cost of education is sky rocketing with every passing year. Despite saving money for years together, most low and middle income families can barely afford to secure their children’s future by helping them gain a quality education. While some parents can afford to take out an education loan for their children, there are countless children who have to give up their aspirations owing to a lack of money. Such students have no choice but to work hard and try to win a scholarship for higher education. While education scholarships are typically offered to meritorious students, there is a larger quota to accommodate different types of students, not just the academically brilliant. Here are the different types of scholarships for higher education in India.

Merit Scholarships: The merit scholarship is the most common type of scholarship across the world. Under this quota, a scholarship is awarded to students on the basis of merit. Students with an overall excellent academic record are given priority under this scholarship eligibility criterion. The achievements of the students are typically measured based on their scores or ranks in competitive examinations, marks scored in internal examinations and so on.

Athletic Scholarships: Athletic scholarships are awarded to students based on the skills demonstrated in a particular sport. For instance a cricket prodigy may claim a higher education scholarship under this quota. Such students need to show that they have achieved several sports honours; played at state or national levels etc., during their school years. In fact, several universities try to allure star athletes to join their institution on this scholarship.

Need based scholarship: A need based scholarship is typically granted to students belonging to the economically weaker sections of society. It is a scholarship dedicated to help the less-fortunate students get an academic degree and rise above their current state of financial difficulties. Organizations and foundations granting need based higher education scholarships for Indian students typically consider the students average family income, number of family members, the cost of living and other such factors before funds are granted under this type of scholarship.

Ethnic groups, Minorities and religious scholarships: Some institutions have a special quota for students belonging to minority communities, ethnic and religious groups. This is done with the aim of providing financial aid to members of their community so that they can pursue higher education.

Partial and complete scholarships: Depending upon the student and the course, students can get partial or complete scholarships. While the former may only cover the cost of tuition, fees and books, the latter covers a student for the additional expenses such as the lodging and boarding fees, travel allowance, conveyance costs etc.

Major specific scholarships: There are several colleges and universities that offer scholarships to students wishing to major in a particular subject. This type of higher education scholarship is generally offered to students excelling in the chosen subject and who can show a track record of excelling in that subject throughout their academic life.