Central Sector Scholarship 2024
Central Sector Scholarship Scheme for College and University Students is a centrally-funded merit-cum-means scholarship initiated by the Department of Higher Education of MHRD. It started with the objective to financially assist students of economically underprivileged families. The Central Sector Scholarship scheme is given in equal proportion to boys and girls, i.e., 41,000 of the total number of scholarships are reserved for boys and the other 41,000 are for girl candidates.
The fund provided under this scholarship helps the candidate to meet his/her daily expenses incurred while pursuing graduate or postgraduate studies in general or professional courses. The selected students receive an annual scholarship amount of up to ₹20,000 so that they could meet their day-to-day expenses while pursuing higher studies. The Central Sector Scholarship scheme disburses scholarships to 82,000 graduate/postgraduate students every year.
Central Sector Scholarship 2024 – An Overview
Central Sector Scholarship 2024 – Awards
Central Sector Scholarship awards a total of 82,000 scholarships every year. 50% of the scholarship is earmarked for girl candidates and the remaining 50% is for boy candidates. Furthermore, the scholarships allotted to State Education Boards are divided in the ratio of 3:2:1 among the pass-outs of Science, Commerce and Arts, respectively.
All these scholarships are distributed to the State Education Boards on the basis of the population of 18-25 years age group in the respective State after segregating the share of CBSE and ICSE. The selected students receive the scholarship amount directly into their account through Direct Benefits Transfer (DBT) mode.
Central Sector Scholarship 2024 – Key Dates
The application period varies from year to year and is subject to change at the discretion of the scholarship provider. For the academic session 2022-23, the last date to apply for the scholarship was 17 January 2023.
Award Money of Central Sector Scholarship Scheme
1. Graduation
An annual scholarship amount of ₹10,000 for 1st three years of graduation.
In case of a 5-year integrated course (professional studies), ₹20,000 per year is given to students during the 4th and 5th years of study.
2. Postgraduation
An amount of ₹20,000 is provided to students studying at postgraduation level.
Central Sector Scholarship 2024 – Eligibility Criteria
This scheme is meant for those bright students who belong to economically disadvantaged families. While applying for this merit-cum-means scholarship, the applicants must make sure that they are above the 80th percentile of successful students in the relevant stream in the class 12 board exam.
Find below more details about the eligibility criteria needed to apply for the scholarship.
- The applicants must be in the top 20th percentile merit list of class 12 results of concerned boards (SEB/CBSE/ICSE).
- The candidates belonging to reserved categories of SC, ST, OBC and PWD will get a reservation of 15%, 7.5%, 27% and 5%, respectively.
- The candidates must be pursuing regular courses of graduation/postgraduation/professional studies from colleges/universities recognised by AICTE, UGC, MCI, DCI or other regulatory bodies.
- The candidates’ annual family income must not exceed ₹8 Lakh and applicants must not be availing of any other scholarship benefits.
- Also, those students who are pursuing Diploma courses are not eligible for this merit-cum-means scholarship.
Central Sector Scholarship 2024 – Key Documents
There are a few necessary documents that the applicants must keep with them ready at the time of the application process. The list of the required documents for the Central Sector Scholarship Scheme for College and University Students is given below.
- Class 12 mark sheet
- Bank passbook issued in the name of the applicant for filling bank details
- Aadhaar card number (In case Aadhaar is not yet assigned, alternatives like Aadhaar enrolment ID slip, voter ID card, driving license, PAN, passport etc. can be used
- Income certificate issued by the competent authority
- Caste certificate, Disability certificate if applicable
Central Sector Scholarship 2024 – Application Process
To make the application process easy and accessible for applicants, MHRD allows students to fill out the scholarship application form online through the government scholarship portal, the National Scholarship Portal (NSP). Follow the steps given below to fill out the Central Sector Scholarship application form.
- Applicants applying to NSP for the first time need to register with NSP as new users.
- Fill in all the required information and click on ‘Register’ to get registered. A student application ID and password are generated on the registered mobile number.
- The applicants need to log in to NSP using the newly generated ID and password. An OTP is sent to the registered mobile number using which the candidate must change his/her password.
- Enter the application ID and password then the candidates are directed to Applicant’s Dashboard Page, where applicants need to click on ‘Application form’ to start the application process.
- The applicants need to provide all the necessary details such as registration details, academic details, basic details, contact details and scheme details.
- All the required documents in support of identity and academic eligibility must be uploaded by the applicants.
- Now, the filled-in application form must be saved as a draft so that the applicant can check every detail once again to make sure they are correct.
- Finally, the candidate must click on ‘Submit’ button to submit the completed scholarship application form.