“No deserving student will ever be denied education at the Indian School of Business for want of funds” – this is a promise that we have made at ISB to ourselves, prospective applicants and the entire community, and I am proud to say, one that has never been broken.
Ever since our inception, we ensured that students would always be able to finance their education, either in part or in full, through loans and scholarships. We tied up with various banks to offer attractive loans to admitted candidates, which cover nearly 95% of the programme cost. We constantly revisit these offers to see how we can make them better. For example, starting from the Class of 2014, students can opt for more flexible repayment options, such as starting with low monthly payments and increasing them slowly over a period of time as their earning potentials increase. The banks that we partner with and the exact terms of the loan such as interest rate, repayment period, etc can vary every year depending on which banks offer our students the best terms. The banks’ loans are collateral-free and only require a guarantor. Details of loans offered to the current class are available here.
We also offer several merit and need-based scholarships from the school. All admitted candidates are eligible for the merit scholarship, and this could cover anywhere from 20% to 40% of the course fee. We awarded 58 merit scholarships ranging from INR 5 lakhs to 10 lakhs to the current class. In addition to being a great support in meeting financial commitments, merit scholarships serve as an recognition of one’s potential and abilities.
Need-based scholarships are for admitted candidates with a family income of less than INR 10 lakhs per annum. One needs to apply for a need-based scholarship to be considered for it, and also needs to provide proof of income of the family. We do not have a cap on the number of need-based scholarships given in a year, so every student who applies for it and meets the criteria will be awarded a scholarship. In the current class, 40 need-based scholarships of INR 5 lakhs each were awarded. A point to note is that all need-based scholarship decisions are made only after the Admissions Committee has prepared the final list of admitted candidates for that particular application round. So applying for this scholarship does not influence the admission decision.
In addition to the above scholarships that ISB offers, there are several other scholarships offered by companies like Citibank, Novartis, Societe Generale, etc to ISB students. Additionally, many scholarships have also been instituted by different organisations and groups – ISB-AIESEC Scholarship, ISB Alumni Endowment Fund’s Diversity Scholarship, etc. The recipients of these scholarships are selected independently by the sponsors of the scholarship, based on their own selection processes.
For international students, different scholarships have been instituted by ISB as well as various foreign companies and organisations, often in association with governments of those countries. For example, the La Caixa and Casa Asia Scholarships are available to Spanish citizens who want to study at ISB, while the IBF scholarship is for Singapore citizens. There are also scholarships not specific to any particular country but which encourage foreigners to explore India as a destination for high-quality education.
The full list of scholarships, both domestic as well as international, along with their eligibility criteria can be seen here.
With so many financing avenues available, nearly 15% of the PGP class receives some form of financial aid and about 80% benefit from an education loan. This model has worked immensely well for all the classes that have graduated from ISB so far and we are constantly refining it to make it better. I hope that you, having seen all the options available, are now feeling confident that you can comfortably finance your ISB education. I would also encourage you to go through our Frequently Asked Questions to learn more about the details of fees and financial aid. As always, if you need any other clarifications, please do contact our Admissions Team and we will be glad to help.
All the best!