CENTRAL SECTOR SCHEME OF SCHOLARSHIP FOR COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY STUDENTS
ABOUT THE SCHEME
The “Pradhan Mantri Uchchatar Shiksha Protsahan (PM-USP) Central Sector Scheme of Scholarship for College and University Students” is implemented by the Department of Higher Education since 2008. The objective of the scheme is to provide financial assistance to the meritorious students, to meet a part of their day-to-day expenses while pursuing higher studies.
1.What are the eligibility criteria for applying the “Central Sector Scheme of Scholarship for College and University Students”?
PM-USP Central Sector Scheme of Scholarship for College and University Students is a merit-cum-means scholarship scheme. Eligibility conditions:
• Students who are above 80th percentile of successful candidates in the relevant stream from a particular Board of Examination in Class XII
• Students pursuing regular course (not correspondence or distance mode)
• Having family income upto Rs. 4.5 lakh per annum
• Not receiving any other scholarship or fee reimbursement of any kind
• Diploma students are not eligible under the scheme.
• Students who had taken a drop after 12th class are not eligible under the scheme.
2. What is the methodology adopted for generating Merit List for selecting the beneficiaries under the Scheme?
From the eligible applicants, merit list is drawn based on gender (50 boys: 50 girls), stream (3-Science : 1-Commerce : 3-Humanities), Category (SC-15 %, ST-7.5 % and OBC-27 % ), and 5 % horizontal reservation is provided for students with Benchmark Disabilities (Disability of 40% or more) from the allocated slots of respective State Education Boards.
3. What is the rate of scholarship under the Scheme?
The rate of scholarship is Rs. 12,000/- per annum at Graduation level for first three years of College and University courses and Rs. 20,000/- per annum at Post-Graduation level.
Students pursuing technical courses are paid Rs. 20,000/- per annum in the 4th and 5th year. Students pursing B.Tech/ BE would get scholarship for 4 years only i.e Rs. 12000 per annum for first three years and Rs. 20,000 per annum in the 4th year.
4. How a second/ third/ fourth year student gets scholarships?
All the students finally selected for scholarship in first year are eligible for renewal of scholarships in 2nd/ 3rd years subject to fulfilment of certain eligibility conditions. The student have to apply again in the same portal as renewal applicant and provide necessary marksheets, etc. for this. The applicant should not receive scholarship from any other department/ ministry.
5. What is the duration of scholarships and criteria for renewal under the scheme?
A student will be eligible for the scholarship for a total duration not exceeding 5 years. A scholarship under the scheme is renewable on year-to-year basis up to Post Graduate level (except for the students pursuing technical courses leading to degree at graduation level).
6. What is the methodology for disbursement of scholarship under the Scheme?
Scholarship is disbursed through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) mode i.e. directly into the bank accounts of the beneficiary. The scholarship amount will be disbursed in the Aadhaar Seeded Bank Account. To have seamless disbursal of scholarships, students are required to seed the Aadhaar with the bank account as mentioned in the application form. The student can track his/her payment status from the template “Know Your Payment” in the Public Financial Management System (PFMS) portal and can also check status on NSP with their login credentials. If the PFMS status is shown as “Success”, then the student is required to check the status of the bank account which was seeded with Aadhaar at the time of transaction.
7. What is Aadhaar Seeding with Bank Account?
The Aadhaar Seeding means linking Aadhaar holder’s Unique 12-digit AADHAAR number with their Bank Account number for receiving Direct Benefit Transfers (DBT) provided under various Government schemes like, Scholarships.
8. How to seed an Aadhaar number with a Bank Account?
The following is the process flow of Aadhaar seeding
a. The student has to visit the bank branch where she is holding an account and submit the duly filled consent form
b. The bank officials after verifying the details and documents provided (as may be required) and authenticity of the customer based on the signature will accept Aadhaar seeding consent form and provide an acknowledgement.
c. The branch will then link the Aadhaar number to the customer’s account and also in NPCI mapper.
9. How to check the Aadhaar Seeding Status?
The Aadhaar Seeding status can be checked on Bharat Aadhaar Seeding Enabler (BASE) platform on NPCI. To use BASE, a student has to:
a. Go to the BASE URL
b. Click on the Consumer tab
c. Click on Bharat Aadhaar Seeding Enabler (BASE)
d. Select the dropdown to get Aadhaar mapping status or history
10. How can I apply for scholarship under PM-USP CSSS?
Login with your Aadhaar/ OTR number. The pre-filled personal details will be fetched automatically from the OTR registration form. Now, to generate your Application ID, the students are required to select their Domicile State and the “Post-Matric” option from the drop-down menu.
The generated Application ID will be available under ‘My Application’. The student can now submit the application by filling the appropriate General information, Category and Academic details; and select the “PM-USP Central Sector Scheme of Scholarship for College and University Students”. After this, upload the mandatory documents and submit the application form.
11. What are the precautions to be kept in mind at the time of online application
registration?
a. While filling the application, student is required to ensure that the name of self, name of father and Roll No., should exactly match as it has been mentioned in the Roll Card/Mark sheet, so that the data gets captured and the scheme is visible on the National Scholarship Portal. While filling the application form, in the column of State Education Boards they have to select the board as per the list at annexure. Note:- in case name in 12th examination marks sheet and Aadhaar card is different, then students are advised to get the name in Aadhaar same as in his/her mark sheet.
For example:-
Father’s Name as per mark sheet- Shri Mahendra Pratap Singh and father’s name as per AADHAAR is M.P. Singh – Incorrect)
b. Have a valid personal email ID and mobile no. which should be kept active till the completion of Scholarship disbursement Process. It is advisable not to change the mobile number for the duration of the scholarship. NSP may send necessary intimation and information through the registered Mobile number. In case a candidate does not have a valid personal e-mail ID, he/she should create his/her new e-mail ID and mobile no. before applying on-line and must maintain that email account and mobile number. Future necessary information and relevant OTP would be provided on mentioned mobile number. The students are advised to mention their own mobile number. The students must also check the SMS from NIC-NSP regularly.
c. NIC and MoE do not send any communication other than Email/SMS.
d. No change in E-mail ID and mobile number will be entertained during the entire process.
e. The demographic details provided in the OTR login, need to be same as that in the Aadhaar and the 12th examination marks sheet.
f. Any change in the demographic details like Name, Father’s Name, Date of Birth, Contact Information need to be performed in the OTR login and the same need to be authenticated through e-KYC and face authentication again.
12. When to apply for scholarship on the National Scholarship Portal?
The application process will be made live on National Scholarship Portal (NSP) www.scholarships.gov.in. Please check NSP portal regularly.
IMPORTANT Notes for the Applicants:
- After finally submitting the applications on the portal students are advised to get their online application verified by the respective institutions before the cut-off date. Application which is not verified either by the institute or by the concerned State Higher Education Department /State Nodal Agency or by both will be treated as ‘Invalid’.
- For College and course change after completion of graduation courses (general degree course), use the option update college/institution and course in your login. After filling right college/institution and course name then only click on submit button because once this request is submitted, system disables the option to update college and course. If the student clicks the submit option without updating the option or filling wrong information, then student will not get another chance.
- For change in college during 2nd and 3rd year of the course, kindly contact your State Nodal Agency at least 2 weeks prior to closing date of NSP along with following documents: (a) Previous and Present College ID card, (b) Present and Previous College Name and AISHE Code, (c) Present and Previous Course. The requests for change in college received in the last 7 days prior to closing of NSP will not be entertained.
- Jammu and Kashmir Board students who passed 12th examination inNovember 20xx (2022) must have to enter 20xx+1 (2023) in the column “12thpassing year” while filling scholarship application form online on NSP.
Contact us:
National Scholarship Division,
Ministry of Education,
Department of Higher Education,
West Block 1, 2nd Floor, Wing 6, Room No. 6,
R. K. Puram, Sector 1, New Delhi 110066.
Telephone: 011-20862360,
Email: ns1-scholarship@gov.in