500 Scholarships That Mean So Much More Than Money: Lives Transformed, Dreams Realised
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Ashoka University has always resisted excellence being quantified by privilege. Every year, our campus welcomes a diverse cohort of students, some carrying the weight of stories beginning in small towns and government schools, far removed from any vestige of privilege. However, Ashoka ensures that every deserving student is accorded a place here, driven by its maxim – talent deserves a fair chance.
Since its inception, Ashoka has carefully curated one of the most inclusive scholarship programmes in higher education in India. The magnitude alone attests to this assertion: more than ₹723 crore committed towards scholarships, over 5,400 students supported, and nearly half the undergraduate community receiving some form of tuition waiver or support. These numbers signify the multitudes of students whose dreams might have been compromised without the assurance of financial aid.
Celebrating Merit in Every Form
Ashoka’s scholarships are designed for both achievement and aspiration.
| Scholarship Type | Scholarship percentage* | Qualifying Criteria* |
| Special Merit Scholarships* (50) | 100% tuition waiver | -Minimum 98%ile in JEE Mains -Top 2000 rank in the IISER Aptitude Test -Top 100 rank in CMI Entrance Examination -Candidates who have qualified for the Training Camp stage of the Indian National Olympiads (INO) in Mathematics, Science, Astronomy, Linguistics and Informatics. |
| Achievers’ Merit Scholarships* (150) | Up to 100% Tuition Fee waiver | -CBSE and ICSE/ISC Class X and Class XII (final or predicted) board scores – 98% and above -Strong performance in the Ashoka admissions process |
| Need-based Scholarships | Up to 100% Need-based Tuition Fee/Full waiver | -A student’s ability to pay is assessed based on various financial resources available to their immediate family, including current income, savings, investments, and education loans, to finance the expected educational cost. |
An Ecosystem of Access
The University’s scholarship policy is no side initiative, but a living, breathing component of our ethos.
It is no surprise, then, to find a Physics Olympiad finalist discussing quantum theory with a first-generation student from Bihar—whose admission was actualised through a full scholarship. In the classroom, biases concerning background metamorphose into collaboration.
Such a diverse student body is constituted in everyone’s best interest.
Real Stories. Real Impact.
Ashoka’s scholarships do not merely translate into numbers but living examples of individuals whose dreams have been cemented through Ashoka’s rigorous academic training across a range of disciplines. For instance, Srija U, a full scholarship recipient from the Ashoka Scholars Programme (2020) went on to pursue PhD English from Columbia University. Talking about her journey, she said, “Ashoka provided me with the kind of intellectual rigour that I was looking for.”
Vignesh, now a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University and writer at Scroll India, shared that he wouldn’t have been at Ashoka University if not for the financial aid programme. Similarly, Mohit Kumar, Recipient of the Millennium Fellowship and a McCall MacBain Scholar from Ashoka’s UG Batch of 2022, reflected on how the Scholarship Programme helped him. He said, “Sometimes, we tend to alter our dreams due to lack of finances. But Ashoka’s financial aid ensured that didn’t happen with me. It also took the pressure away from my family.”
Each of these stories showcases how the University’s Scholarship Programme brings real change. It also drives home the fundamental belief that access can coexist with excellence.
A National Commitment to Equal Opportunity
Ashoka’s leadership has carefully designed its scholarship model as a reflection of India itself — dynamic, ambitious, and inclusive. The university’s commitment of over ₹723 crores worth of scholarship has resulted in one of the most extensive need- and merit-based support systems in the country. It is normative for a student to graduate debt-free, carrying only the responsibility to render meaningful service as a capable, responsible, empowered and thinking adult.
The model also sends a quiet, yet unyielding message to other institutions: that affordability and academic rigour are not opposites, but complement one another. By blending merit recognition with need-sensitive waivers, Ashoka has reentrenched the understanding of “private education” in India — not elite, but enabling.
The Ashoka Promise
Every scholarship offered at Ashoka is a promise — that brilliance will never go unnoticed, and potential will always bloom into fruition. Whether you are a topper, a thinker, a coder, a dreamer, or a student who is deeply invested in any form of meaningful thinking, you will always find a place here.
Applications for UG 2026 are now open. Explore scholarships, eligibility, and deadlines at https://application.ashoka.edu.in/
Written by – Srishti Choudhury, English Major
Study at Ashoka
