Scholarship Forms on the National Portal Close 31 October: A One-Week Checklist
Published 24/10/2026
In short: The National Scholarship Portal (NSP) shows 31 October 2026 as the closing date for student applications this year. That leaves one week. It matters to any family whose child, from Class 9 to postgraduate study, is applying for or renewing a central government scholarship.
What happened
The NSP at scholarships.gov.in is where most central government scholarships are applied for. On its home page today, the portal's announcement for this year's renewals says the closing date for student applications is 31 October 2026. Two more dates follow:
- 15 November 2026: last date for the school, college or university (the "institute") to verify the application.
- 30 November 2026: last date for the second level of checking, by the district or state nodal officer (called L2).
The announcement names two merit schemes that are open for renewal: the PM-USP Central Sector Scheme of Scholarship for College and University Students, and the PM-USP Special Scholarship Scheme for Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh.
Other schemes on the portal can have their own last dates. News reports on 1 October said the Ministry of Education had moved the National Means-cum-Merit Scholarship (NMMSS, for Class 9 students in government schools) to 31 October as well. We could not open the official notice for that today, so check the NMMSS entry on the portal itself before you rely on it.
The one-week checklist
For students
- Finish your One Time Registration (OTR). The OTR is a 14-digit number linked to your Aadhaar (or Aadhaar enrolment ID). You need it to apply for any scholarship on NSP, and it stays with you for the rest of your studies. You don't make a new one each year.
- Pick your schemes with care. From this year, the portal says a student can apply for one merit-based scheme and one or more welfare-based schemes, if you meet each one's rules. Don't apply for two merit schemes.
- Submit, then save proof. Download or screenshot the final page with your application number. A form saved as a draft is not a submitted form.
- Tell your school or college the same day. Your application is not complete until the institute verifies it. Ask who the nodal officer is and when they will do it. They have until 15 November, but the earlier the better.
For parents
Most applications that fail at this stage fail on paperwork, not on eligibility.
- The face check. The NSP OTR app uses Aadhaar face authentication. The portal says that if the check fails, first make sure the Aadhaar biometric lock is off. You can see this on the mAadhaar app or the My Aadhaar website. If you see error 904, update the "AadhaarFaceRD" app from the Play Store and try again.
- Certificates. Income, category and disability certificates must be valid and match the name on Aadhaar. A spelling difference can hold up verification. Fix it now, not in November.
- Read the scheme's own page. The 31 October date we confirmed is for the renewals named above. If your child is applying for a different scheme (a pre-matric, post-matric, AICTE or ministry scheme), open that scheme on the portal and note its own last date.
- Missing the date usually means missing the year. Extensions do happen, but don't plan around one.
A small tip from experience: do the form on a laptop, with all documents scanned as PDFs in one folder, at a quiet hour. The portal slows down in the last two days.
Key dates
| Date | What |
|---|---|
| 31 Oct 2026 | Last date for student applications (NSP announcement) |
| 15 Nov 2026 | Last date for institute verification |
| 30 Nov 2026 | Last date for district / state (L2) verification |
Sources
- National Scholarship Portal home page: announcements, closing dates, OTR and face-authentication notes, checked 24 October 2026
Dates can change. Confirm on the official website before you pay or apply.
If a calm look at scholarships and college plans together would help, more on easyapply.in.