Postmatric Scholarship

What is the Tamil Nadu Postmatric Scholarship?

Postmatric Scholarship is the fee-support scheme of the Backward Classes, Most Backward Classes and Minorities Welfare Department, Government of Tamil Nadu. The department reimburses tuition fees, special fees, examination fees and other non-refundable compulsory fees for students from the Backward Classes (BC), Most Backward Classes (MBC) and Denotified Communities (DNC) studying beyond Class 10.

"Post-matric" means after matriculation, that is, from 11th standard upwards, through higher secondary, undergraduate degrees, polytechnic diplomas, professional courses and postgraduate study. The most-searched slice of the scheme is the school one: BC and MBC students in 11th and 12th standard studying in English medium, whose tuition and examination fees are reimbursed so that a family is not forced to move a child to a cheaper stream at exactly the point where the child's marks decide their future.

The scheme is administered online through the Unified State Scholarship Portal (USSP), reached at umis.tn.gov.in, and payments go directly to the student's Aadhaar-linked bank account through the Public Financial Management System (PFMS).

What exactly does the scholarship pay?

The conditions differ by category and by course, and mixing them up is the commonest source of confusion. The Backward Classes Welfare Department's published position:

For 11th and 12th standard, English medium

• Tuition fee of Rs 500 is reimbursed to BC and MBC students whose parental income does not exceed Rs 2,00,000 a year and who hail from a non-graduate family. For MBC and DNC students there is no such condition.
• Examination fees for Backward Classes students in English medium in government and government-aided schools are reimbursed subject to an annual parental income not exceeding Rs 2.5 lakh. For Most Backward Classes and Denotified Communities students the examination fee is reimbursed without any income condition.

For higher courses

• Tuition fees, special fees, examination fees and non-refundable compulsory fees are covered for UG degrees, polytechnic diplomas, professional courses and postgraduate study.
• Hostel residents receive Rs 400 per month in addition.
• Annual parental or guardian income must not exceed Rs 2.50 lakh for most categories, but UG degree programmes in government institutions have no income ceiling.
• Students at IITs, IIMs, IIITs, NITs and Central Universities with family income under Rs 2.50 lakh receive reimbursement up to Rs 2 lakh a year for eligible fees.
• Medical students admitted under the 7.5 per cent horizontal reservation for government school students receive full fee reimbursement.

One point removes a lot of confusion at the school level. The Government of Tamil Nadu has waived tuition fee and special fee for students studying in Tamil and English medium in government and government-aided schools. Where no fee is charged, there is nothing to reimburse; the reimbursement heads bite where fees are in fact levied.

Who is eligible, and who is not eligible?

You can apply if:

• You belong to the Backward Classes, Most Backward Classes or Denotified Communities, evidenced by a community certificate from the Tahsildar.
• You are a resident of Tamil Nadu studying in a recognised institution.
• You are studying at 11th standard or above: higher secondary, diploma, degree, professional or postgraduate course.
• Your parental or guardian annual income is within the ceiling that applies to your category and course; Rs 2.50 lakh in general, Rs 2,00,000 for the 11th and 12th English medium tuition fee head, and no ceiling for UG degrees in government institutions.
• You have an Aadhaar-linked bank account in your own name and a UMIS ID.
• You are continuing your studies and can produce the previous year's mark sheet.

You are not eligible if:

• You belong to a Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe. Those students are not eligible under this department's scheme and should apply through the Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare Department's post-matric scholarship, which is a separate scheme with its own conditions.
• You belong to a community outside the BC, MBC and DNC lists and outside the minorities the department covers.
• Your family income exceeds the ceiling for your category and course.
• You are studying below 11th standard: pre-matric scholarships are the separate scheme for those classes.
• You have discontinued the course or are repeating a year without permission.
• You have no Aadhaar-linked bank account in your own name, which stops the PFMS transfer even after sanction.
• You are already drawing another government scholarship for the same course and year. Two scholarships are not paid for the same purpose.

What documents are required?

How to apply for the Tamil Nadu Postmatric Scholarship

1. Obtain a current community certificate and income certificate from the Tahsildar. Apply through a Tamil Nadu e-Sevai centre if that is easier. Get the income certificate for the correct financial year. A certificate obtained years earlier for another purpose is the single most common reason an application is rejected.
2. Open an Aadhaar-linked savings bank account in the student's own name, and confirm with the branch that the Aadhaar seeding is complete for DBT purposes, not merely that the Aadhaar number is recorded. These are different things and only the first works with PFMS.
3. Get the UMIS ID from the institution. The Unified Management Information System identifier is used with Aadhaar during the application, and the school or college office issues or confirms it.
4. Register on the Unified State Scholarship Portal at umis.tn.gov.in at the start of the academic year, using the student's own mobile number and email.
5. Fill the scholarship application online — personal details, community, parental income, course, year of study, institution, hostel status, and bank account details exactly as they appear in the passbook.
6. Upload the scanned documents; community certificate, income certificate, Aadhaar, bank passbook first page, bonafide certificate, previous mark sheet and photograph; in the formats and sizes the portal specifies.
7. Submit the application and note the application number. Print or save the acknowledgement.
8. Follow up with the institution. The application does not travel further until the school or college verifies and forwards it. This is where most applications stall, and a student who submits and forgets often finds at year-end that the institution never forwarded the file.
9. Track the status on the portal, and check the bank account for the credit once the sanction is shown.

How do you check the status of an application?

1. Log in to umis.tn.gov.in with the registered credentials and open the application status page.
2. Check whether the institution has verified and forwarded the application, this is the first gate and the commonest sticking point.
3. Check the PFMS payment status shown for a sanctioned application.
4. Ask the institution's scholarship section, which usually has a nodal staff member for BC and MBC scholarships, to look up the file.
5. Contact the District Backward Classes and Minorities Welfare Officer at your district collectorate where the institution cannot resolve it.

Why do applications get rejected, and how are they fixed?

• Bank account not Aadhaar-seeded for DBT. The account may show the Aadhaar number and still not be DBT-enabled. Ask the branch specifically for Aadhaar seeding in the NPCI mapper, and get confirmation.
• Bank account not in the student's own name. A parent's account cannot receive the scholarship.
• Income certificate for the wrong year, or showing income above the ceiling. Obtain a current certificate.
• Community certificate mismatch. The certificate in a parent's name with nothing linking the student, or a community that is on a different list from the one claimed.
• Institution has not verified the application. Follow up in person at the college office. This is the biggest single cause of unpaid but otherwise valid applications.
• Name or date-of-birth mismatch across the Aadhaar, mark sheet, bank account and community certificate. Correct the records before applying.
• Applied under the wrong department. SC and ST students belong on the Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare scholarship, not this one.
• Duplicate scholarship for the same course and year.
• Applied after the institution's internal cut-off. Apply as soon as the academic year begins rather than near the end of it.

Where can a student raise a grievance?

• The institution's scholarship section: school headmaster or college principal's office, the first stop for a verification that has not happened.
• The District Backward Classes and Minorities Welfare Officer at your district collectorate.
• The Backward Classes, Most Backward Classes and Minorities Welfare Department, Chennai, through bcw.tn.gov.in.
• The support channel on the Unified State Scholarship Portal at umis.tn.gov.in for technical problems with the application.
• The District Collector's weekly grievance day for a file pending across an academic year.

No fee is payable for a scholarship application. No agent or middleman is needed, and any demand for money for processing a scholarship should be reported to the institution and the district officer.

What related education support should a student check?

A student in 11th standard should do three things at once: get the community and income certificates now, open an Aadhaar-seeded bank account in their own name, and register on umis.tn.gov.in at the start of the year. Those three steps carry the student through every scholarship they will apply for over the next six or seven years, and the students who miss out almost always miss out on one of them rather than on eligibility.