Looking Out to Apply For Scholarships to Study Abroad Here’s how

“I want to graduate from a foreign university!” – this dream is highly mushrooming among students in India with the increased possibilities to study abroad. But this dream often gets a break on the way instead of accomplishing it straight away just because of the costs and expenses involved.

Here is a way how the road to accomplishing the dream to study abroad can be smoothened. Students can apply for scholarships for their studies if they do not want to spend anything from their pockets, nor take loans from some bank nor ask for financial assistance from someone.

For students that aren’t aware of the scholarships that can be applicable, here are some popular scholarships to study overseas.

# Indian Government scholarships for Overseas Education: 

The Indian government has special provision to encourage students to excel academically in studies abroad.
•    These scholarships that are offered are merit based as well as student – caste specific, minority religion specific, family occupation specific and university specific that are under specific QS World Ranking.
•    These scholarships are strictly not applicable for admissions to Undergraduate/ Bachelors courses.
•    The students have to apply to these scholarships themselves.
•    The time required to receive these scholarships/ grants is long, at times it takes a year too.
•    The students have to be highly dedicated to take regular follow ups and updates for their applications in order to get the process accelerated at times. There are students who could manage getting their scholarships with regular and personal follow-ups. 
•    The number of scholarships awarded are less in comparison to the number of applicants, hence it is time consuming process for the officials to filter the best profiles.
•    Herein, the first priority will be given to students who have received offer of admission/ admit letter
•    Second priority will be given to student who have cleared GRE/ GMAT/TOEFL/ IELTS etc.

Herein, there are two categories based on the receipt of funds/ grants.
-    Interest Subsidy for Education Loan: The student has to apply for loan through these scholarships; where the simple interest to be paid during the moratorium period is paid by the government.
-    Financial Assistance: The students receive financial assistance towards their tuition fees.

# Funding Institutes that offer Scholarships:

-    The students should apply for the scholarship themselves.
-    There are specific deadlines that have to be considered while applying.
-    These scholarships offer financial funds for specific listed universities, specific courses like Arts and Culture, Environmental Science, International Legal Science and so on.
-    These scholarships are country specific too – i.e. US and others.
-    The financial awards can cover the entire tuition fees, living expenses, air fares, health insurance and other expenses also, i.e. Stanford Reliance Dhirubhai Fellowship Scholarship for Masters in Business and MBA from Stanford University USA.
-    There are a few scholarships that may not cover all the other expenses, but offer the entire tuition fee only, i.e. TATA scholarships.

# Universities themselves offer Scholarships to students:

•    The scholarships that are funded by the government of the country – give a by-default provision of funds that may be for the entire tuition fees or partial or discount towards the tuition fees. In some categories, the scholarship awards the entire expenditure including the tuition fee, living expenses, air fare, other educational expenses and accommodation too.
•    The scholarships that are funded by the university directly – either directly offer or ask for acceptance from the student for the financial awards/ grants given towards the tuition fees and / or other expenses.

Majorly all countries and universities have their merit based scholarships to be offered for academic excellence as well as extracurricular excellence. In of the case, the student should be focused to achieve academic excellence till the end and have a focus of future career directives.
The students shouldn’t be disheartened if they aren’t eligible to apply for any of the scholarships. Students can always look forward to Overseas Education Loan. The ease to apply for education loan is also now easier but it also requires dedication and career focus.