All about Need-Based and Merit-Based Scholarships for Studying Abroad

Need-based and merit-based Scholarships: Scholarships have always provided students with a medium to fulfil their dreams by allowing them to study abroad. They provide the much-needed financial aid required to lessen the burden of the strenuous tuition fees and living expenses that a domestic student wanting to study abroad faces. However, scholarships are of different kinds.

While some are general scholarships others are more categorical in nature. Today we are going to discuss the types of scholarships that are available to Indian students looking to study abroad.

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Types of Scholarships

Today we are going to be talking about merit-based scholarships, need-based scholarships, and general scholarships among other financial grants/aids for applicants looking to study abroad at a low cost. 

What are Merit-Based Scholarships?

As the name suggests Merit-Based Scholarships are financial grants that are provided to students on the basis of a student’s past academic records and/or extracurricular activities such as achievements in sports and service to the community. The financial background of a candidate is of no importance here. Read: Merit Scholarships for SAT and ACT Scores

What are Need-Based Scholarships?

As the name suggests, Need-Based scholarships are financial aids/grants that are provided to students that are facing financial difficulties. These scholarships are aimed towards students with weak financial backgrounds who are unable to meet the high tuition fees and living expenses of foreign countries. Candidates would be required to produce proof in the form of family income proof, tax statements employment documents among others to apply for this particular category of scholarship.

Difference Between Merit-based and Need-based Scholarships

The differences between the need-based and the merit-based scholarships are given below.

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What are General Scholarships?

As the name suggests, General Scholarships is an umbrella term that talks about all financial aid/ grants that are given to deserving candidates to embark on their study abroad journey. This particular scholarship does not follow any set pattern but has been constituted for the deserving. For the benefit of our readers, we have brought together the most popular scholarships for study abroad destinations that have one of the largest Indian student footfalls, every academic year. Candidates would be surprised to know Indians form the second largest percentage of foreign student composition abroad only second to China. 

The list of country-wise scholarships is as follows.

Apart from the scholarships mentioned above, there are also various other scholarships that candidates can apply for. These scholarships are again for students who comply with a certain larger category. These include.

• Student Specific Scholarships: As the name suggests, Student Specific Scholarships are based on factors such as gender, race, religion, family, and medical history of the applicant, and students who are eligible can apply to such scholarships.
• Destination Specific: These are scholarships that are more destination specific. For example, the Chevening fellowship granted by the UK Government is for international students belonging to the Commonwealth countries. Hence, you see scholarships could also target Tier II and Tier III countries, to bring about equal opportunities.
• Athletic Scholarships: As the term suggests, these are scholarships that are reserved for top-notch sportsmen. The financial grant would require applicants to contribute with rigorous training and representing their university at events whilst balancing their education, simultaneously.

Check out:

• Scholarship Interview Questions with Answers to Study Abroad
• Scholarships after 12th
• How to Write a Winning Scholarship Essay to Study Abroad?

Scholarships vs Fellowship vs Freeship

While we know all about scholarships, let us closely look at what Fellowship and Freeship mean and how different are they from scholarships.

What are Fellowships?

The fellowship is the financial aid awarded to students who are going to pursue research on a specific subject after clearing the qualifying exam. A fellowship can be a grant given to students or scholars from various disciplines like finance, management, science, etc. for pursuing research in a specific area.

What is Freeship?

Freeship is when the total tuition fee is paid by the authority which is sponsoring it for the time period which they have approved. Some universities offer Freeship where they waive off tuition fee, however, the student has to pay for the accommodation and food expenses.

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