Karnataka ePASS Post-Matric Scholarship (State Scholarship Portal)

What is Karnataka ePASS?

Karnataka ePASS is the name students, colleges and coaching centres still use for the state's online post-matric scholarship system. The system itself now runs on the State Scholarship Portal (SSP) at ssp.postmatric.karnataka.gov.in, which is the site to use today. Anyone searching for an "ePASS Karnataka login" should go to SSP instead.

The State Scholarship Portal is a single window for scholarship schemes of several Karnataka departments, and each department keeps its own eligibility rules, rates and deadlines. According to the portal, the departments on SSP include the Social Welfare Department, Scheduled Castes Welfare Department, Backward Classes Welfare Department, Minority Welfare Department, Department of Agriculture, Technical Education, Medical Education, AYUSH, Disability Welfare, Collegiate Education, Labour, Textiles and Handlooms, Transport, Fisheries and the Karnataka State Brahmin Development Board.

For most students who search for ePASS, the relevant department is the Backward Classes Welfare Department, and the relevant benefits are the post-matric scholarship, fee concession and the Vidyasiri food and accommodation scheme.

How much does the Karnataka post-matric scholarship pay?

The Backward Classes Welfare Department publishes fixed annual rates that split into an educational allowance and a tuition fee component:

Two more benefits sit alongside it on the same SSP application:

• Fee concession reimburses the actual fees of a government-quota seat, up to the rate the government fixes for the same course in a government college. Tuition fee, laboratory fee where a laboratory is compulsory, examination fee, sports fee and library fee are the five heads covered.
• Vidyasiri pays Rs 1,500 a month for 10 months, that is Rs 15,000 a year, to a student who applied for a government or aided hostel and did not get a seat.

The department is explicit that a student may take only one of the post-matric scholarship and the Vidyasiri food and accommodation scheme.

Who is eligible for the Karnataka post-matric scholarship?

You can apply if:

• You are a permanent resident of Karnataka.
• Your caste appears in the list of Other Backward Classes notified by the Government of India or the Government of Karnataka.
• You are studying a post-matric course in a government, local body, aided or recognised unaided private institution under a Karnataka statutory university.
• Total annual family income is within Rs 2.50 lakh for Category 1 or Rs 1.00 lakh for Category 2A, 3A and 3B.
• You passed the previous annual examination with 60% (Category 1) or 70% (Category 2A, 3A, 3B) for the post-matric scholarship. Fee concession asks for 50% for Category 1 and blind students and 60% for other backward classes.

You are not eligible if:

• You hold a management-quota seat, a private seat in a private college, or a ComedK seat type. The department excludes all three by name.
• You are studying through distance education, an open university or an evening college, which are excluded from fee concession.
• You are studying the same course more than once, or have changed courses more than once.
• You are in a postgraduate medical course and practising medicine during the course.
• You are the third or later son of the same family. Only two sons per family qualify, and this limit does not apply to girl students.
• You already draw a benefit from the Social Welfare, Scheduled Castes Welfare or Minority Welfare departments. A student under those departments cannot also claim from the Backward Classes Welfare Department.
• You are being paid under a Centrally Sponsored post-matric scholarship, since you can be a beneficiary under only one of the two.

What documents are required for the SSP application?

The certificates must be in the student's name, and you enter the RD number printed on the Nadakacheri certificate rather than uploading a scan. An RD number belonging to a parent is the most common reason an SSP application fails validation on the first attempt.

How to apply for the Karnataka post-matric scholarship on SSP

1. Obtain a caste certificate and an income certificate in your own name from Nadakacheri or an Atalji Janasnehi Directorate centre, and keep the RD numbers.
2. Open ssp.postmatric.karnataka.gov.in and create a student account. Students who have applied in an earlier year must reuse the same account, and can reset a forgotten password from the portal's reset link rather than registering again.
3. Log in and choose your department, then the scheme, that is post-matric scholarship, fee concession or Vidyasiri. Remember that post-matric scholarship and Vidyasiri cannot be combined.
4. Fill in Aadhaar, SSLC registration number, the caste and income RD numbers, district, taluk, assembly constituency, home address and college enrolment number. Professional-course students must add their counselling details, which the department makes compulsory.
5. Enter your bank account details. The account must be in your own name and Aadhaar-seeded, since payment is by DBT.
6. Submit before the last date for your department and save the acknowledgement.
7. Ask your college to verify the application on SSP. The department cannot sanction anything until the institution completes verification.

How to check your SSP scholarship status

1. Log in to ssp.postmatric.karnataka.gov.in with your student credentials.
2. Open the application status screen for the current academic year.
3. Read the stage shown, saved but not submitted, pending with college, pending with department, sanctioned, or rejected with a reason.
4. If it says sanctioned but no money has arrived, check that your bank account is Aadhaar-seeded and active, then call 1902.

The Backward Classes Welfare Department also publishes a scholarship paid report on bcwd.karnataka.gov.in showing releases up to a stated date, which is useful when a whole college is waiting on a batch.

Key dates on the State Scholarship Portal for 2026-27

• Backward Classes Welfare Department: 31 August 2026
• Scheduled Castes Welfare Department: 31 August 2026
• Minority Welfare Department: 30 September 2026
• Social Welfare Department: 31 January 2027

The Backward Classes Welfare Department has invited 2026-27 applications for the post-matric scholarship, the nomadic and semi-nomadic post-matric eligibility scholarship, fee concession and Vidyasiri together in a single notification. Karnataka has extended these deadlines in earlier years, for instance the 2025-26 pre-matric and post-matric fee reimbursement window was extended to 30 November 2025, but an extension is a concession and not something to plan around.

Why Karnataka scholarship applications get rejected

• Caste or income certificate in a parent's name, so the RD number fails validation.
• Income above the ceiling, Rs 2.50 lakh for Category 1 and Rs 1.00 lakh for Category 2A, 3A and 3B.
• Marks below the cut-off in the previous annual examination.
• Management quota, private seat or ComedK seat type, which are excluded outright.
• Duplicate claim, where the student also draws a Centrally Sponsored post-matric scholarship or a benefit from another welfare department.
• College verification not done before the department's cut-off.
• Bank account not in the student's name or not Aadhaar-seeded, which blocks DBT even after sanction.
• Counselling details missing for a professional course.

Most rejections are correctable within the same academic year if you act quickly. Fix the underlying document, then take the case to the college scholarship section and the taluk or district welfare office.

Help and grievance redressal

• State Scholarship Portal helpline: 1902
• SSP email: postmatrichelp@karnataka.gov.in
• Backward Classes Welfare Department: 8050770004, and bcwd.scholarship@karnataka.gov.in
• Scheduled Castes Welfare Department: 9036267776
• Social Welfare Department: 9482300400
• Minority Welfare Department: 8277799990
• Department of Agriculture (Raitha Vidya Nidhi): 1800-425-3553
• Office timings: 10.30 am to 5.30 pm
• IPGRS Janaspandana at ipgrs.karnataka.gov.in for a written grievance

Applying is free from start to finish. No agent can add your name to a scholarship list, and no official will ever ask for your SSP password or an OTP.