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If you are in second or third year and have just learned you could have applied for a scholarship in first year, the answer is mixed. Some schemes take new applicants only in first year. Others accept you in any year. And a missed renewal is often not lost for good.
Can you apply for a scholarship in second year if you missed it in first year?
It depends on whether the scheme takes fresh applications after first year. A fresh application is your first claim on a scheme; a renewal is the yearly re-claim once you have been selected.
First-year only. The central government's PM-USP Central Sector Scheme offers a maximum of 82,000 fresh scholarships a year, awarded on Class 12 board results to students above the 80th percentile of their board and stream with family income up to ₹4.5 lakh, according to the Ministry of Education's PM-USP CSSS guidelines. A CSSS eligibility explainer states that second-year students cannot apply as fresh applicants. Reliance Foundation's undergraduate scholarship, worth up to ₹2 lakh across the degree, also requires you to be in the 1st year of a full-time degree in 2026-27, according to Buddy4Study's Reliance Foundation listing.
A second door through lateral entry. For the 2025 cycle, AICTE's Pragati scholarship for girls in technical degree courses took students admitted to the first year, or to the second year through lateral entry, with household income up to ₹8 lakh, and paid ₹50,000 a year, as reported by the Free Press Journal. If you joined B.Tech straight after Class 12, that second door is not open to you.
Which scholarships accept students in second, third or final year?
Some private schemes judge you on your latest marks and your family's present need, not on when you joined. Two examples, checked for the 2026-27 cycle:
HDFC Bank Parivartan ECSS (UG): open to anyone enrolled in a full-time undergraduate programme, with at least 55% in the most recent exam and family income up to ₹2.5 lakh. Awards are ₹30,000 (general) or ₹50,000 (professional courses), with preference for students hit by a personal or family crisis in the past three years. The listed deadline for this cycle is 31 October 2026, per Buddy4Study's Parivartan ECSS page, so check quickly or note it for next year.
SBI Platinum Jubilee Asha Scholarship (UG): for UG students at a top-300 NIRF institution or a college with NAAC Grade A or above, with 75% in the previous year (65% for SC/ST) and income up to ₹6 lakh, for up to ₹75,000. This year's window closed on 19 September 2026, per Buddy4Study's SBI Asha page, so note it for next year.
State-administered schemes such as the post-matric scholarship for SC students are worth checking too. The national PMS-SC guidelines tie eligibility to caste, parental income up to ₹2.5 lakh and a recognised course, and leave selection to your state, so ask your state portal how it treats a later-year fresh application.
What if you were selected but missed the renewal?
This is the most fixable case. The PM-USP CSSS guidelines say a student who missed applying for renewal on the National Scholarships Portal can apply for renewal in the subsequent year if they meet the renewal conditions, and that students will not be permanently debarred because of a delay. Renewal for the year you missed is not allowed, so you lose that year's payment, not the scholarship. To renew, the same guidelines ask for at least 50% in the annual exam and at least 75% attendance.
That 50% line is where one weak subject can cost you money. If a paper is dragging your marks down, Fermi's AI tutor can work out what you already know and build a plan for the session, so you sit down to a clear next step.
What should you do this week?
An evening's plan:
Sort every scheme you looked at into first-year only, lateral entry, any year, or renewal.
For anything you were already selected for, check on the National Scholarships Portal whether renewal is open.
For any-year schemes, note the month this year's cycle opened and set a reminder a month earlier.
Gather papers now: income certificate, last marksheet, fee receipt, and a bank account in your own name. Parents can help most here.
Visit your college scholarship cell with the script below.
What to say: "I'm in second-year B.Sc. and missed the first-year window for the central scholarship. Which schemes is the college verifying this year that accept second-year students, and who is our institute nodal officer on the portal?" Under the PM-USP guidelines, applications are verified first by your institute and then by the state, so the nodal officer is the person to know.
To see how the central scheme works end to end, read our guide to the PM-USP central sector scholarship, then set up a scholarship tracking calendar so next year's windows do not slip past.
