FFE Scholarship 2026-27: first-year engineering, MBBS and law students, applications open

By AiCoN | Published 26 October 2026 | Sources checked 26 October 2026

The Foundation For Excellence (FFE) scholarship supports first-year students of BE/BTech, integrated MTech, MBBS and 5-year law whose family income is ₹3 lakh or less a year, selected on entrance rank. The 2026-27 season opened on 1 August 2026 and the application form is live on ffe.org. FFE does not publish a closing date on the page as of 26 October 2026, so apply early. Kerala students are eligible; the engineering table lists a Kerala state band of 4,000, and the page does not name the exam for state bands, so the course-wise table below carries the detail.

At a glance

• What: merit-cum-means scholarship plus mentoring, training and employability support from Foundation For Excellence
• Who: FIRST-YEAR students (2026-27) of BE/BTech, integrated 5-year MTech, MBBS, or 5-year integrated LLB, admitted through entrance rank or state counselling
• Plus Two: you must have passed Class 12 / PUC / Intermediate / CBSE / ISC or equivalent after 2024
• Income: combined family income ₹3 lakh or less per year
• Kerala cutoff: maximum eligible rank 4,000 for the Kerala state band in the engineering table - the page does not name the exam for state bands, so confirm your exam with FFE (NEET General rank 50,000 for MBBS; CLAT 7,000 for law)
• Deadline: none published on the sponsor page as of 26 October 2026; the season opened 1 August 2026. Apply early.
• Where: ffe.org scholarships page, free application form on the page itself

The rank cutoffs, including Kerala's

FFE sets a maximum entrance rank by course and state. From the live table on ffe.org, checked 26 October 2026:

• Engineering, JEE Main route: for students joining IITs, NITs, IIITs and state/regional institutes in Bihar, Chandigarh, Delhi, Goa, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, with admission criteria based exclusively on the JEE Main All India Rank (AIR) - the General/Common Merit Rank, not category-specific ranks: 1,30,000.
• Engineering, IIT route: for students joining IITs, the cutoff rank at JEE (Advanced), General Category: 30,000.
• Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Telangana, Karnataka: 10,000.
• Kerala, Gujarat, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Bihar: 4,000.
• Puducherry, Jammu & Kashmir, Assam, Jharkhand: 1,000.
• Other listed states and UTs: 500.
• MBBS: NEET overall All India General/Common Merit Rank up to 50,000 (not category rank).
• 5-year law: CLAT rank up to 7,000 for the 27 NLUs; state law CETs are listed separately on the page.

For Kerala students, the engineering table lists a Kerala state band of 4,000, and the MBBS table uses the NEET General rank with a 50,000 ceiling. The page's table headings do not spell out which exam the Kerala state band refers to, so confirm your specific case with FFE before relying on the 4,000 band.

Rules to check before applying

• Only first-year students beginning their degree in 2026-27 are eligible; senior-year students cannot apply.
• Only BE/BTech, integrated 5-year MTech, MBBS and 5-year integrated LLB count. B.Arch and BDS are not eligible.
• The page carries this note exactly as written: "Diploma Students Admitted To B.E., B.Tech Courses On A Lateral Basis. B.Arch, BDS Students Are Not Eligible." The diploma lateral-entry sentence is incomplete on the site, so lateral-entry students should confirm eligibility with FFE before applying.
• Selection considers only academic performance and family income, irrespective of caste, community, gender or religion.
• FFE does not state a fixed scholarship amount on the current scholarships page. It describes financial support plus mentoring, skilling and career webinars. An older FFE page for the law programme mentions ₹50,000 a year for that programme's 2024 cycle; treat that as historical, not as the 2026-27 amount.

How to apply

Checked on ffe.org on 26 October 2026. We did not submit the form, so the steps describe the route the page presents.

1. Open ffe.org/scholarships and read the eligibility table for your course and state.
2. Scroll to Submit Details to Apply and fill the application form on the page.
3. Keep scanned copies ready: Class 12 marksheet, entrance rank certificate, counselling letter for seat allotment, family income certificate or salary slips (3 months) or IT return, Aadhaar, tuition/hostel/mess fee receipts, bank passbook copy, bonafide certificate from your college, the college-issued fee structure, and a parent or guardian declaration.
4. After you apply, an FFE volunteer verifies your background, followed by an interview. Selection is announced after verification.

Video guides

We did not find a walkthrough video we could verify as made for the 2026-27 FFE cycle, so we are not linking one. The steps above follow the live page itself.

Frequently asked questions

Is this a government or bank scholarship? No. Foundation For Excellence is a private non-profit funded by donors; it says applications are free and no one is authorized to charge for selection.

I am in second year of BTech. Can I apply? No. Only first-year students of the 2026-27 academic year are eligible.

My family income is ₹3.2 lakh. Am I eligible? No. The published ceiling is ₹3 lakh or less per year.

When does it close? FFE's page states only that the season began on 1 August 2026 and publishes no closing date as of 26 October 2026. Apply early rather than waiting for a date.

Source: Foundation For Excellence scholarships page. Checked on the live page on 26 October 2026. This is an AiCoN explainer, not the foundation's publication.