Prerana Scholarship 2026: SC/ST ₹1,200, OBC ₹750 Monthly

Your institute must also verify your application online on the same portal, so you cannot do this entirely on your own.

One thing to understand from the start: Prerana does not send money to your parents' account or your guardian's account. It goes to the student's own Aadhaar-linked bank account only.

If you don't have a personal account, open one before starting the application.

The 2025-26 application window closed on March 6, 2026, after multiple extensions. New cycle dates for 2026-27 will be announced on the portal.

Check scholarship.odisha.gov.in for the latest dates because the department announces changes there first, not on social media or third-party sites.

Group II covers pharmacy, nursing, paramedical, LLB, mass communication, hotel management, and most postgraduate degree programs like MA, M.Sc., M.Com., M.Ed.

Group III is the +3 degree program. Group IV includes +2, ITI courses, 3-year diploma, and 2-year vocational courses.

If you're in a short-term certificate course not listed in these groups, you're not eligible. When in doubt, check the official list at stsc.odisha.gov.in.

Your institution must be recognized and must be registered on the Odisha Scholarship Portal. Even if your course and category qualify, an unregistered college blocks your entire application.

Always verify your college's registration status on the portal before the admission process.

Students studying outside Odisha but who are residents of Odisha may be covered under the central post-matric scholarship scheme separately. Prerana specifically applies to students studying in Odisha.

⚠️The DBT Bank Account Trap: Verify Before You Apply

Your bank account must be in your own name, not your parent's or guardian's. DBT sends the maintenance allowance only to the student's Aadhaar-seeded account.

If your Aadhaar is not seeded with your bank account in the NPCI mapper, the payment fails after approval. You'll be approved on paper but receive nothing.

This is the most common reason students don't receive money despite having a valid application.

Before submitting: go to your bank branch, ask them to confirm your Aadhaar-bank account seeding is active. Don't assume it's done.

Confirm it in person.

The income certificate is the document most often questioned. An income certificate from a private employer or a self-written declaration is not accepted.

It must come from the state government - typically issued at the tehsil or block office level - and must reflect the current financial year.

Keep physical originals ready as well. Institutes sometimes conduct physical verification where they call students to cross-check uploaded documents against originals.

Being unable to produce originals can lead to cancellation at that stage.

One thing students miss: the income certificate must be in the parent's or guardian's name, not the student's name. A certificate that shows the student as the earning member gets flagged during district verification as it doesn't reflect household income.

⚠️Documents That Cause the Most Rejections

A caste certificate issued before 2020 is a top rejection trigger. Get a fresh one from the competent authority.

Your name must match exactly across Aadhaar, bank and mark sheet. Even a single-letter difference can block approval.

Hostel fees charged by private institutions can also fall outside the scheme's definition of 'admission fees.' If you stay in a private hostel attached to a recognized college, confirm with the district welfare office whether those charges qualify for reimbursement under your category.

The practical takeaway: treat the fee coverage as the bigger benefit and the maintenance allowance as the monthly cash support. Students who go in expecting large cash amounts are often disappointed.

Students who understand the fee waiver structure use it well to reduce what their families pay at admission time.

For SC and ST students pursuing Group I courses like engineering or medicine, the maintenance amounts are higher because the government recognizes that professional degree courses have higher living costs. But these amounts haven't been revised in several years.

If you find the amounts don't reflect current costs, the correct channel for feedback is the district welfare office or an official complaint through the portal.

📌Marks Cutoff and Category-Specific Rules: Quick Summary

SC and ST students: no minimum marks needed. Apply even if you passed with low marks.

OBC/SEBC and EBC students: you need at least 50% in your last exam. Below that, your application is rejected at the portal level before it reaches the institute.

All categories: income must be below ₹2.5 lakh per year from all sources. The income certificate must be from a government authority, not a private employer or a self-declaration.

The new college must be registered on the portal and must re-verify your application before disbursement continues.

Taking a year drop or academic break cancels the scholarship for that period. If you return to studies after a gap, you need to reapply from scratch as a fresh applicant, not as a renewal case.

You don't retain your previous scholarship status across an interrupted enrollment.

Renewal works on the same portal, same login, same process as the original application. The main trap is missing the announcement window because the department sometimes announces renewal dates with only two to three weeks' notice.

Set a reminder to check the portal at the start of every academic year in July or August.

The maintenance allowance for renewal applicants is typically disbursed in quarterly or semester-based installments. If an installment is delayed, check the portal's disbursement status screen.

If it shows 'approved' but the money hasn't arrived, check with your bank that your Aadhaar seeding is still active - sometimes bank system updates reset the NPCI mapping.

Once the district office approves, the department processes disbursement. Fee amounts are transferred to the institution.

Maintenance allowances are queued for DBT transfer to your Aadhaar-linked account. This final transfer can take another two to four weeks from district approval.

The total timeline from successful submission to money in your account is typically eight to fourteen weeks. Students who expect payment within a week of applying will be confused by the silence.

Track your status weekly on the portal and escalate only if your application status hasn't moved for more than three weeks at any single stage.

If your status shows 'rejected' without a clear reason, log a complaint through the portal's grievance module or visit your district ST/SC welfare office in person. The portal does not always send SMS or email notifications for status changes, so proactive checking is your best tool.

Save a screenshot of every status update along with the date. If you need to visit the welfare office, those timestamps help the officer quickly locate your application in their system and track where it stopped in the approval chain.

Institute not verifying on time: this is the biggest cause of valid applications failing. The institute has a deadline to verify applications on the portal.

If they miss it, your application lapses. There is no way for you to force approval after the window closes.

Submit early and follow up with your college weekly.

Unregistered institution: if your college is not on the portal's approved list, your application cannot proceed at all. There is no workaround.

Verify before admission, not after.

Income certificate issues: using a certificate that is more than a year old, or one issued by a private employer instead of a government authority, causes rejection during document verification. Get a fresh income certificate each year you apply.