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A scholarship on the National Scholarship Portal (NSP) does not roll over on its own. Every year you apply again as a renewal applicant, and the application counts only once your college and your state have verified it. Below we use the PM-USP Central Sector Scheme of Scholarship for College and University Students (CSSS) as the worked example, because its renewal rules are published in full.
How do you renew a scholarship on the National Scholarship Portal?
The Department of Higher Education's CSSS FAQ for 2025-26 says first-year awardees “have to apply again in the same portal as renewal applicant and provide necessary marksheets”. In practice that means six steps.
Log in at scholarships.gov.in with your One Time Registration (OTR) number or Aadhaar. The NSP homepage describes the OTR as a unique 14-digit number, issued based on your Aadhaar or Aadhaar Enrolment ID, that applies for your entire academic career.
Check your institution and course. The FAQ warns that a course with the wrong duration causes errors during renewal, and a wrong institution cannot be corrected after final submission.
Upload your previous year's mark sheet, the document the FAQ lists for renewal.
Click “Confirm and Submit” only when everything is right; after that you cannot edit. Note your application ID.
Get it verified. The CSSS guidelines say applications are verified first by your institute, then by the state nodal agency. An application not verified by the cut-off is treated as “Invalid”, says the FAQ.
Track it under “Check Your Status” in your login, and track payment through “Know Your Payment” on the PFMS portal.
What marks and attendance do you need to renew?
The CSSS guidelines set two conditions for renewal in each year of study: at least 50% marks in the annual examination and at least 75% attendance. Complaints of indiscipline, criminal behaviour or ragging lead to forfeiture of the scholarship. The FAQ adds that the scholarship lasts at most 5 years and that you must not take a scholarship from any other department or ministry.
School students on the National Means-cum-Merit Scholarship face a different test. The revised NMMSS guidelines of March 2022 require at least 60% marks in Class X (relaxable by 5% for SC/ST students) and clear promotion from Class IX to X and from XI to XII at the first attempt. State schemes set their own rules, so read the guideline PDF for your scheme on NSP.
A worked example: say your college holds 180 teaching days a year and your annual exam is out of 600 marks:
75% attendance means at least 135 days present, so you can miss at most 45.
50% marks means at least 300 out of 600.
If one weak subject is pulling your marks down, Fermi's AI tutor can work out what you already know and build a plan for the session, so revision starts from your actual gaps.
What happens if you miss the renewal deadline?
You lose that year, not the whole scholarship. The CSSS guidelines say students “will not be permanently debarred” for a delay, but renewal “for that year will not be allowed” after the cut-off. The FAQ confirms you can renew the following year if you still meet the rules.
Dates change every year. When we checked the NSP homepage in late October 2026, CSSS renewals closed for students on 31 October 2026, with institute verification due by 15 November and state verification by 30 November.
Changing college in second or third year needs extra time: the same FAQ asks you to contact your State Nodal Agency at least 2 weeks before NSP closes, and says requests in the last 7 days will not be entertained.
A renewal checklist for every year
When results come out, download your mark sheet and check it clears your scheme's marks rule.
Keep the same mobile number and email; the CSSS FAQ advises against changing your number during the scholarship.
Confirm Aadhaar is seeded with your bank account, because payment goes by Direct Benefit Transfer.
Check that your institute's AISHE status is active; the FAQ says payment is not released for inactive institutes.
Submit in the first week the portal opens, not the last.
Within a few days, ask your Institute Nodal Officer to verify it.
If it is marked “defective”, fix and resubmit at once. A “rejected” application cannot be revived.
A short message to your Institute Nodal Officer helps. You can say: “Sir/Ma'am, I have submitted my NSP renewal for the PM-USP CSSS scheme, application ID ____. Could you please verify it before the institute deadline of ____? I can bring my mark sheet if needed.”
Parents can help by putting both deadlines in the family calendar a week early.
Stuck? Scheme grievances can go to the Department of Higher Education's scholarship division (ns1-scholarship@gov.in, 011-20862360) or to pgportal.gov.in, as listed in the CSSS guidelines.
Put this year's dates in your calendar today, then log in and check your status.
