Does the scholarship cover more than tuition?

Yes — accommodation, books, materials and technology, alongside mentoring and career guidance, so nothing forces a scholar to drop out.

Support continues into skills training and employment pathways, so scholars move from education into a livelihood.

Who is eligible for the Scholarship program?

Girls who have completed school through Support-A-Girl, or who are referred by a teacher or partner organization, and who have a college offer or the grades to obtain one. Family income must be the barrier to attendance, and every applicant is assessed individually.

What does the scholarship cover?

Tuition and examination fees, a safe hostel place with a monthly living allowance, books and materials, a laptop or device where the course requires one, mentoring, and career guidance. The elements are funded together, not piece by piece.

Are donations tax-deductible?

US donors receive a receipt from Sneha Karma Foundation, Inc., a 501(c)(3) organization with EIN 47-3774368. For India, 80G details are available on request. Our donation policy explains receipts and refunds.

How is a scholar selected?

Referral or graduation from Support-A-Girl leads to an eligibility check, an academic assessment and a conversation with her family. A written offer follows, setting out what is covered and what the family contributes in support at home.

Does every scholar get a mentor?

Yes. A mentor is matched in the first fortnight and meets her monthly to review attendance, marks and wellbeing. In the final year a career coach adds help with internships, interviews and job offers.

Can I fund a specific scholar?

Scholarships are pooled so that no girl is singled out by her circumstances. If you want your gift directed to a particular stage, such as accommodation or a laptop, contact us and we will tell you what is currently needed.

Will I receive updates on her progress?

Yes. Funders receive termly updates on attendance and progress, plus an annual summary of results across the program. We do not share identifying details without consent. See all FAQs → Contact us Have a Question or Feedback ? Contact us

Scholarship | Sneha Karma Foundation

Scholarship Program Impact

Impact at a Glance

34+

Girls supported

96%

Successfully completed

Rs. 5+ Lakhs

Per scholarship

The Need

Why It Matters

Scholars studying together in a computer classroom

Higher education is where a girl’s choices widen most — where she can become the first in her family to hold a degree, enter a profession, and earn a salary her parents could only imagine. It is also where support most often dries up.

After years of keeping a girl in school, families and programs alike hesitate at the final and costliest stretch. The result is a girl who finished school and then watched her future close for want of fees, a place to live, or a laptop.

A scholarship is the difference between that ending and a young woman who walks into college, graduates, and begins a career she chose. The return is not hers alone: an educated woman lifts her family, her community, and the generation after her.

Program Offering

What the Program Provides

A scholarship is more than a fee payment. These five elements have to work together, or a scholar drops out at the first unexpected cost.

Tuition and Fees

Tuition and examination fees are paid directly to the institution, so a bill never stands between a scholar and her next semester.

Support for tuition and fees is part of the same package; a scholar never has to apply for each element separately.

Accommodation and Living Support

Where studying means living away from home, we cover a safe hostel place and a monthly living allowance. Rent, food and transport are budgeted, not improvised.

Support for accommodation and living support is part of the same package; a scholar never has to apply for each element separately.

Good Healthcare

Every girl in the program gets regular check-ups, dental and eye care through camps, and treatment support when she is unwell. Costs are covered or subsidised so no family has to choose between health and school.

Where a problem needs more than a camp can give, we refer her to a specialist and follow the case until she has actually been treated, because a referral that is not completed is not care.

Books, Materials and Technology

Books, stationery and course materials are provided, including a laptop or device where the course requires one. No scholar is asked to choose between a textbook and a meal.

Support for books, materials and technology is part of the same package; a scholar never has to apply for each element separately.

Mentoring and Career Guidance

Each scholar is matched with a mentor who tracks her progress, coaches her through examinations, and helps her plan internships, interviews and her first job.

Support for mentoring and career guidance is part of the same package; a scholar never has to apply for each element separately.

A Path Beyond the Degree

Graduates can move into our Skills Development and artisan programs where they want to earn while they build. The scholarship opens the door; the network keeps it open.

Support for a path beyond the degree is part of the same package; a scholar never has to apply for each element separately.

“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.”

Mahatma Gandhi

Donate to our Scholarship Program

Program Eligibility

Who Can Join the Scholarship Program

Scholars are girls who have already shown what they can do against the odds — most often girls who came up through our Support-A-Girl program, or who are recommended by teachers and partner organizations in the communities we serve. We look for commitment and potential, not privilege: ability to study, a clear purpose, and a family willing to stand behind her. Where family income is a barrier, the scholarship is what makes the difference between applying and attending.

Once selected, a scholar is not simply funded and forgotten. She is mentored, tracked and encouraged — because our promise is not just to pay a fee, but to see her through to a qualification and a future she can build on.

Program Structure

How the Program Works

A scholarship runs for the length of a degree, so the process has three stages and fifteen steps. The same mentor stays with her from the referral to her first job.

Stage 1

Identify and Select

Referral — Scholars are identified from our Support-A-Girl graduates or referred by teachers and partner organizations who know the family.
Eligibility check — We confirm she has a college offer or the grades to obtain one, and that family income would otherwise block her attendance.
Academic assessment — Her subject strengths, language readiness and course choice are reviewed with her mentor before any funding is committed.
Family conversation — We explain what the scholarship covers, what it does not, and what the family is expected to contribute in support at home.
Selection and offer — A written offer sets out fees, accommodation, materials and mentoring, and she accepts it with her family present. Any adult in contact with her is screened before the offer begins. Read our safeguarding policy.

Stage 2

Fund and Support

Fees paid directly — Tuition and examination fees are paid to the institution each term, so she is never asked to front the money.
Housing secured — A safe hostel or shared accommodation is arranged and inspected before term starts, with a warden contact on file.
Materials and device — Books, stationery and a laptop or device are supplied where the course requires one, and replaced if lost or broken.
Mentor assigned — A mentor is matched in the first fortnight and meets her monthly to review attendance, marks and wellbeing.
Termly review — Progress, attendance and spending are reviewed each term with her and the family, and support is adjusted if something slips.

Stage 3

Graduate and Launch

Examination preparation — Coaching, practice papers and quiet study space are funded in the final year so examinations are not lost to circumstance.
Internship and first job — We help arrange an internship or first placement, covering travel and interview costs where they would otherwise stop her.
Career guidance — Her mentor and our career coach work through options, applications and salary conversations, including offers she should refuse.
Alumni network — Graduates join an alumni group that mentors the next cohort and speaks at school events in the villages they came from.
Pathway onward — She can move into Skills Development or an artisan livelihood if she wants to earn while she studies further.

Our Impact

The Impact So Far

Success is a scholar who enrolls, stays, and graduates. It is a young woman who becomes the first graduate in her family, who earns her own living, and who returns to her community as proof of what a girl can become. We measure enrollment and completion, academic progress, and the path each scholar takes after her studies.

A Story of Change

From Garbhanga to a degree

A scholar supported by the Scholarship program

Seuti Teron joined Support-A-Girl in 2011, aged eight, from the Garbhanga forest reserve in Assam. She stayed through school, then became one of the first girls from her village to enter higher education with a scholarship.

“I am thankful to Sneha Karma Foundation for providing the funding to Parijat Academy to support me and for always motivating me to become independent. I am thankful to Parijat Academy for providing me a safe accommodation and taking care of my day-to-day needs.”

Seuti Teron, Support-A-Girl, 2011 — now a teacher

Her path is the one this scholarship is built for: a girl who finished school with nowhere to go next, and for whom a paid fee, a safe room and a mentor were the whole difference.