Government Scholarships 2026: Every Central Scheme, and Who Actually Qualifies

There are 8 central government scholarship schemes worth knowing about, they are nearly all applied for in the same place — the National Scholarship Portal — and most students apply for none of them. Not because they are ineligible, but because the schemes are described in language that makes it impossible to tell.

This page lists all of them with the two facts that decide almost every case: what your family can earn and what you get. Then you can check your eligibility against all of them at once.

All central scholarship schemes

Scheme	What you get	Income limit	Who	Level
Post Matric Scholarship for SC Students Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment	Full fees + monthly allowance	₹2.5 lakh	SC	Post-matric
Post Matric Scholarship for ST Students Ministry of Tribal Affairs	Fees + allowance	₹2.5 lakh	ST	Post-matric
Post Matric Scholarship for OBC Students Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment	Fees + allowance	₹1.5 lakh	OBC	Post-matric
Central Sector Scheme of Scholarship for College and University Students Department of Higher Education	₹12,000–₹20,000 a year	₹4.5 lakh	All categories	Graduate
AICTE Pragati Scholarship for Girl Students All India Council for Technical Education	₹50,000 a year	₹8 lakh	All categories · Female only	Diploma / Degree
AICTE Saksham Scholarship for Differently-Abled Students All India Council for Technical Education	₹50,000 a year	₹8 lakh	PWD	Diploma / Degree
National Means-cum-Merit Scholarship (NMMSS) Department of School Education & Literacy	₹12,000 a year for four years	₹3.5 lakh	All categories	Class 9–12
PM YASASVI Scholarship for OBC, EBC and DNT Students Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment	₹75,000–₹1.25 lakh a year	₹2.5 lakh	OBC	Class 9–12

Application dates are not on this page, deliberately. The portal announces its window each session and we have not verified this one. Every competitor page carries a confident closing date; a wrong one costs a student a year. Check scholarships.gov.in ↗ for the window that is actually open.

Find your scheme by family income

This is the condition that rules people out most often, and the ceilings are not consistent — the OBC post-matric limit is a full lakh below the SC and ST one, and the AICTE schemes admit families at five times that. Ceilings, lowest first:

₹1.5 lakh — Post Matric Scholarship for OBC Students
₹2.5 lakh — Post Matric Scholarship for SC Students
₹2.5 lakh — Post Matric Scholarship for ST Students
₹2.5 lakh — PM YASASVI Scholarship for OBC, EBC and DNT Students
₹3.5 lakh — National Means-cum-Merit Scholarship (NMMSS)
₹4.5 lakh — Central Sector Scheme of Scholarship for College and University Students
₹8 lakh — AICTE Pragati Scholarship for Girl Students
₹8 lakh — AICTE Saksham Scholarship for Differently-Abled Students

Income means the whole family, from every source — salary, agriculture, rent, pension, interest — not one parent's pay. It is certified by a revenue officer and the certificate usually expires at the end of the financial year.

Find your scheme by stage of study

The second thing that decides it is where you are in your education. Schemes are built around one stage each, and applying for the wrong stage is a rejection, not a near miss.

In school, Class 9 to 12

National Means-cum-Merit Scholarship (NMMSS) — 55% in the Class 7 examination is the usual bar, relaxed by 5% for SC and ST students.
PM YASASVI Scholarship for OBC, EBC and DNT Students — The largest per-year amount of any scheme on this page, and the hardest to get.

After Class 10 — Class 11 onwards, including college

Post Matric Scholarship for SC Students — Family income ceiling is ₹2.5 lakh a year counting every source, not just salary.
Post Matric Scholarship for ST Students — Family income ceiling is ₹2.5 lakh a year.
Post Matric Scholarship for OBC Students — The income ceiling is ₹1.5 lakh — LOWER than the SC and ST schemes. Families who assume the three limits match are the ones caught out.

In a degree course

Central Sector Scheme of Scholarship for College and University Students — Open to every category. One of very few central scholarships with no category condition at all.

In a technical diploma or degree (AICTE)

AICTE Pragati Scholarship for Girl Students — Up to two girls in one family may hold it.
AICTE Saksham Scholarship for Differently-Abled Students — Open to any category — the condition is the disability certificate, not caste.

Which schemes your category can hold

Category decides fewer cases than students assume: half of these schemes have no category condition at all. For each category, the schemes open to it:

Category	Schemes you can apply for
SC	Post Matric Scholarship for SC Students; Central Sector Scheme of Scholarship for College and University Students; AICTE Pragati Scholarship for Girl Students (girls only); AICTE Saksham Scholarship for Differently-Abled Students (with a disability certificate); National Means-cum-Merit Scholarship (NMMSS)
ST	Post Matric Scholarship for ST Students; Central Sector Scheme of Scholarship for College and University Students; AICTE Pragati Scholarship for Girl Students (girls only); AICTE Saksham Scholarship for Differently-Abled Students (with a disability certificate); National Means-cum-Merit Scholarship (NMMSS)
OBC	Post Matric Scholarship for OBC Students; Central Sector Scheme of Scholarship for College and University Students; AICTE Pragati Scholarship for Girl Students (girls only); AICTE Saksham Scholarship for Differently-Abled Students (with a disability certificate); National Means-cum-Merit Scholarship (NMMSS); PM YASASVI Scholarship for OBC, EBC and DNT Students
General / EWS	Central Sector Scheme of Scholarship for College and University Students; AICTE Pragati Scholarship for Girl Students (girls only); AICTE Saksham Scholarship for Differently-Abled Students (with a disability certificate); National Means-cum-Merit Scholarship (NMMSS)

What to keep ready

Every scheme checks the same few facts, so the same few documents decide most applications. Get them before the portal opens — a certificate takes days to issue, and the windows are short.

Family income certificate for every scheme with an income limit — that is all 8 on this page. Issued by a revenue officer; check its financial year.
Caste certificate for the 4 schemes restricted by category.
Disability certificate for AICTE Saksham.
Your last marksheet, and proof of admission to your current course for the post-matric and college schemes. Our document checklist covers how each should be issued.

If you are not SC, ST or OBC

Two of the schemes on this page have no category condition whatsoever. The Central Sector Scholarship goes to any student in the top 20 percentile of their Class 12 board, and AICTE Saksham goes to any student with a 40% disability certificate in a technical course. Both admit General-category students, and both are routinely skipped by students who assumed the portal had nothing for them.

What we do not do

We do not take applications, we do not charge anything, and we do not ask for your documents. Every scheme here is applied for on the government's own portal, free. Anyone who asks you to pay to apply for a government scholarship — or offers to "get it approved" — is running a fraud, and there is no exception to that rule.

Check which ones you qualify for

Our free checker scores your profile against every scheme on this page and every exam we track at the same time. It asks for your category, your level of study and your family income; it does not ask for your name, phone number or email.

Check my eligibility →