Vidyasiri Food and Accommodation Scholarship Scheme

What is the Vidyasiri scholarship?

Vidyasiri, sometimes written as the Vidyasiri Food and Accommodation Scholarship, is a maintenance scholarship run by the Department of Backward Classes Welfare, Government of Karnataka. Vidyasiri exists to solve a specific problem: Karnataka runs a large network of government post-matric hostels for backward class students, but every year far more students apply for those hostel seats than there are beds. Vidyasiri pays cash to the students who missed out, so that they can pay for their own food and rented accommodation near their college instead of dropping out or commuting long distances.

According to the Backward Classes Welfare Department's scheme page on the Karnataka State Scholarship Portal, Vidyasiri pays Rs 1,500 per month for 10 months of the academic year, that is Rs 15,000 a year, straight into the student's own bank account by Direct Benefit Transfer. Several cohorts have also been paid an annual book allowance of around Rs 1,200. There is no cash handling, no cheque and no college intermediary.

Key features of Vidyasiri

• Fully state-funded by the Government of Karnataka, not a centrally sponsored scheme.
• Aimed only at post-matric students, that is students studying beyond Class 10, including PUC, degree, diploma, engineering, medical and postgraduate courses.
• Paid to the student, never to a parent or guardian.
• Renewable each academic year, but the student must re-apply on the portal every year; there is no automatic carry-forward.

Who is eligible for Vidyasiri and who is not?

You can claim Vidyasiri if:

• You are a permanent resident of Karnataka.
• You belong to a notified backward class in Category 1, 2A, 3A or 3B, proved by a Nadakacheri caste certificate.
• You are studying a recognised post-matric course at a recognised institution in Karnataka.
• You applied for a government or government-aided hostel seat and were not admitted.
• Your family income is within the ceiling for your category. Published guidance puts this at roughly Rs 2.5 lakh a year for Category 1 and roughly Rs 1 lakh a year for Categories 2A, 3A and 3B; confirm the live figure on the SSP scheme page, because the department revises it.
• You scored the minimum percentage in the qualifying examination, published as about 55 per cent for Category 1 and about 65 per cent for the other categories.
• Your college is at least a stated distance from your home, published as 5 kilometres, so that day-scholars living next to campus do not draw a hostel substitute.

You cannot apply, or are not eligible, if:

• You have already been admitted to a government or government-aided hostel or a residential college run by any department. This is the single most important exclusion, and a student cannot hold both benefits.
• You are outside the notified backward class categories. Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe students are covered by the Social Welfare and Tribal Welfare departments' own hostel and maintenance schemes on the same portal, and minority community students by the Minority Welfare Department's schemes.
• Your declared family income exceeds the category ceiling.
• You are pursuing a course equivalent to one you already hold, such as a B.Com after a BA, or you have changed course repeatedly.
• You are the third or later son in a family that already has two boys drawing the scholarship. Girl students are not subject to this cap.
• You are a pre-matric student in Class 1 to 10. Those students apply under a different pre-matric scheme on the same portal.

What documents are required for Vidyasiri?

How to apply for the Vidyasiri scholarship

1. Open the Karnataka State Scholarship Portal at ssp.postmatric.karnataka.gov.in.
2. Choose the post-matric student track, then select new user registration if this is your first application.
3. Complete Aadhaar-based e-KYC, entering your Aadhaar number and the OTP sent to your Aadhaar-linked mobile number. Add your SSLC registration number so the portal can pull your school record.
4. Complete the NSP One-Time Registration (OTR) step when the portal prompts for it, and note the OTR number that is generated.
5. Select Backward Classes Welfare Department as the department and Vidyasiri as the scheme. Applying under the wrong department is the easiest way to lose an application, because each department has a different deadline.
6. Fill in your course, college, caste certificate number, income certificate number and bank account details. Enter the certificate numbers exactly as printed; SSP validates them against the Nadakacheri database.
7. Upload the scanned documents and submit. Save or print the acknowledgement showing your application number.
8. Follow up with your college scholarship section and make sure they verify your application on SSP. An unverified application is never sent to the department, no matter how complete it is.

There is no offline form for Vidyasiri and no fee. Any person asking for money to "get your Vidyasiri sanctioned" is running a scam.

How do I check my Vidyasiri application status?

1. Log in to ssp.postmatric.karnataka.gov.in with your Aadhaar-linked credentials.
2. Open the application status or track application section.
3. Read the stage shown: submitted, verified by college, verified by department, sanctioned, or paid.
4. If the status stays at pending at institution for weeks, the delay is at your college, not at the department, and only your college can clear it.

Payment status can also be traced through the PFMS DBT status link on the portal once the department marks the application sanctioned.

Why do Vidyasiri applications get rejected?

• Bank account not Aadhaar-seeded. DBT fails silently and the money bounces back. Ask your bank branch to seed Aadhaar, not merely to link the mobile number.
• Account not in the student's own name. Parent and joint accounts are rejected.
• Name or date-of-birth mismatch between Aadhaar, SSLC records and the bank. Correct the Aadhaar record first, since SSP treats Aadhaar as the master.
• Expired or wrong-year income certificate. Get a fresh Nadakacheri certificate for the current year.
• College did not verify the application before the department's cut-off.
• Hostel seat already held. If you accept a government hostel seat after applying, your Vidyasiri claim is withdrawn.
• Duplicate application under two departments for the same year.

What are the key dates for Vidyasiri?

The State Scholarship Portal publishes a separate closing date for each department. For 2026-27, the portal shows 31 August 2026 as the cut-off for most welfare departments including Backward Classes Welfare, 30 September 2026 for the Minority Welfare Department, and 31 January 2027 for the Social Welfare Department. Do not rely on a friend's deadline in a different category.

The portal usually opens for fresh applications shortly after college admissions close, and renewals open in the same window. Payment normally follows department sanction, which can run several months after the closing date.

Who do I contact about a Vidyasiri problem?

• SSP general helpline: 1902
• Backward Classes Welfare scholarship support: 8050770004 and 8050770005
• Email: bcwd.scholarship@karnataka.gov.in
• District office: the District Backward Classes Welfare Officer handles disputes about caste category, hostel allotment and sanction delays.
• Your college scholarship section, for anything stuck at the verification stage.

Vidyasiri applications are free from start to finish. No officer will ever ask for your Aadhaar OTP or your bank password, and no agent can add your name to the sanctioned list.