SBMS Scholarship Explained

Pursuing an advanced education can be a long term and expensive endeavor. The cost of college tuition continues to rise, making a four-year degree much more costly than it has been in the past. For those seeking advanced degrees, the cost challenges are even more extreme, especially if the student must pay for living quarters on campus. Other expenses such as books and even everyday costs like food and clothing also continue to rise. One way to defray some of these costs is through a scholarship. In India, the SBMS scholarship, or ePass scholarship, can help low income students pursue their goals of receiving an advanced degree.

SBMS stands for Social Benefits Management System. This program is provided to residents of Andhra Pradesh by the local state government. Among other benefits supplied by SBMS is the SBMS scholarship, of interest to students pursuing advanced college degrees. The scholarship is offered twice a year, in September and March.

The SBMS scholarship, recently renamed the ePass scholarship, is a scholarship granted to students in India to pursue post-graduate classes. These are also known as post matric classes, or classes taken after matriculation. To qualify for the scholarship, a student must be taking classes approved by the university, and the student's parental income must be below a certain threshold. Interested students may apply for the scholarship at the program's dedicated website.

Expenses covered by the SBMS scholarship include tuition reimbursement and management, or mess, fees. Tuition reimbursement is provided in September and March. Management fees are assessed monthly according to the individual student's needs and the group in which their chosen courses fall. More information on provided management fees can be found on the SBMS/ePass website.

Only certain classes are covered under the ePass scholarship. These are divided into groups, and the group in which your desired classes fall determines some portion of the fees that will be covered by the scholarship. Groups and courses include:

- Professional courses such as Business Administration, Veterinary Science, agriculture, medicine and engineering (Group I)
- Doctoral and post doctoral research, PhD courses, post graduate, graduate and certificate level courses (Group II)
- Other degree courses not included in Groups I and II, classes associated with the National Institute of Fashion Technology (Group III)
- Intermediate vocational courses and other technical courses and training (Group IV)

Certain training courses such as aircraft maintenance are not eligible. Applications must be submitted in the month before the admission date.