Home / Posts / Free coaching for JEE, NEET, UPSC and more: govt scheme with Rs 4,000 monthly stipend, apply by 30 November

FREE COACHING

Free coaching for JEE, NEET, UPSC and more: govt scheme with Rs 4,000 monthly stipend, apply by 30 November

By AiCoN | Published 18 October 2026 | Sources checked 18 October 2026, deadlines re-checked 2 November 2026

The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment runs a free coaching scheme for competitive exams for SC and OBC students and PM CARES Children beneficiaries. Coaching happens at empanelled Central Universities, the course fee is fully paid, and students also get a stipend of Rs 4,000 a month for up to 12 months. Applications for 2026-27 are on the National Scholarship Portal and close on 30 November 2026.

Scoped update: 2 November 2026. The live NSP scheme list now shows this scheme with student applications till 30 November 2026, defective application and institute verification till 15 December 2026 and nodal verification till 31 December 2026. Our earlier version said 31 October, 15 November and 30 November. Original publication date unchanged.

Official publisher artwork, cropped by AiCoN to omit the national emblem. Original: https://scholarships.gov.in/. Independent guide, not affiliated or sponsored.

Good to knowOnly 3,500 students are selected each year, and each Central University selects its own students on merit. 30% of slots are reserved for women. You need Aadhaar-based biometric attendance; repeated unexplained absence can cancel the benefit. SC and OBC students need a family income of Rs 8 lakh or less; PM CARES Children beneficiaries have no income or caste conditions and are exempt from the selection process.

Exams covered

UPSC, SSC and Railway (RRB) Group A and B exams, and State Public Service Commission exams
Officer-grade exams of banks, insurance companies and PSUs
Entrance exams: JEE (engineering), NEET (medical), CAT (management), CLAT (law)
SAT, GRE, GMAT, IELTS and TOEFL; NDA and CDS entrance

Who can apply

SC and OBC students with total family income up to Rs 8 lakh a year
Beneficiaries of the PM CARES Children Scheme (with the Central Government certificate) - no income or caste conditions
SC:OBC ratio is roughly 70:30 within each university's slots

What you get

Course fee paid in full under the scheme
Stipend of Rs 4,000 per month for the full course duration, up to 12 months
Rs 15,000 incentive for interview coaching if you clear the mains of Central or State Civil Services (Group A/B) exams
All payments by Direct Benefit Transfer to an Aadhaar-linked bank account

How to apply on NSP: step by step

Checked on the live National Scholarship Portal on 19 October 2026. NSP now uses One Time Registration (OTR) - do this first if you have never registered.

Open scholarships.gov.in (Academic Year 2026-27 is live), click Students → Apply now, then Register. Registration is free - no fee is required.
Read the OTR guidelines, tick the consent boxes and click Next. Register your active mobile number and verify it with the OTP; a reference number is sent to your mobile.
Complete eKYC: install the NSP OTR app and the Aadhaar Face RD app on an Android phone and do face authentication with the reference number. Your OTR ID is then generated. Aadhaar is required; a minor without Aadhaar can register with a parent's or legal guardian's Aadhaar.
Log in on NSP with your OTR ID, open Fresh Application for Academic Year 2026-27 and choose the free coaching scheme this article covers from the scheme list.
Fill the application form and upload the documents it lists.
Submit before 30 November 2026. Track the application in the same dashboard; institute and district/state verification happen after you submit.

National Scholarship Portal homepage for Academic Year 2026-27 with Students, Institutions, Officers, Public and Fellowship tiles — Step 1: the NSP homepage for Academic Year 2026-27 - start from the Students tile. Screenshot of the official National Scholarship Portal, captured 24 October 2026 (cropped to the top of the page). Tap or click the image to open it full size.

NSP Register page showing the 4-step One Time Registration flow: Guidelines, Register Mobile No, eKYC, Finish — Steps 2-3: the official NSP registration page with the 4-step OTR flow (Guidelines, Register Mobile No., eKYC, Finish) and the OTR guidelines. Screenshot of the official National Scholarship Portal, captured 24 October 2026. Tap or click the image to open it full size.

Steps 4-6 happen inside your own NSP login, so they are not shown as screenshots. Generating an OTR alone is not an application - you must still log in and submit the scholarship application.

Video guides

We searched YouTube on 19 October 2026 for a step-by-step application video for this scheme on the current NSP OTR portal in English and in Malayalam. The videos we found cover older portal versions or could not be verified to match the current portal, so we are not linking any rather than risk outdated or unrelated instructions.

Dates on the NSP scheme list (checked 2 November 2026): student applications close 30 November 2026; institute verification 15 December 2026; state/nodal verification 31 December 2026. Benefits and rules are from the scheme guidelines published on NSP (revised from 2023-24).

Sources: NSP scheme list, official scheme guidelines (PDF). Checked 18 October 2026; application steps and video search re-checked 19 October 2026. This is an AiCoN explainer, not a government publication.