Financial support for care leavers in India exists to close a gap most people never have to think about: turning 18 in a children's home, with no family waiting outside the gate and often no money for what comes next.
Vedicology Foundation's own version of this support goes further than most: it funds 100% of college education — full tuition, full hostel and accommodation, and full exam fees — for a girl who grew up in a registered Child Care Institution and is leaving with no family to return to. You need 60% in Class 12 to apply. If college isn't your path, a vocational course is funded in full instead.
Most scholarships expect a family in the background — someone to cover the rest, somewhere to go home to on a break. A care leaver has neither. This is what "care leaver" means in India, why turning 18 is the moment everything is supposed to just work itself out, and why it usually doesn't without help. Then: exactly what full funding covers, what marks you need, and how to prove your situation, even if some of your paperwork is hard to get.
What "care leaver" means, and why 18 is the cliff-edge
A care leaver is someone who grew up in a registered Child Care Institution — a Bala Sadan, a Balika Sadan, an orphanage, or any other registered children's home — and is now leaving it, usually around 18, with no family to return to. How you ended up in care does not matter. You may have lost both parents. You may have been placed there another way. Your parents may be alive but unable to care for you, for reasons that were never your fault. None of that changes anything.
What matters is what happens at 18. Most young people leaving home still have a family behind them — a place to go on a bad week, someone to help with the rest of a fee. A care leaver does not. That is the cliff-edge: the same age everyone else uses as a launchpad becomes, for a care leaver, the point where every safety net disappears at once.
Scholarship for orphan students: what 100% funding actually covers
A scholarship for orphan students in the usual sense is often partial — half the fee, a book grant, a one-time prize. Vedicology Foundation's Care Leaver Scholarship is different by design. It is the one support the Foundation offers that is not partial at all:
- ●Tuition fees — 100%. Your full college tuition, for your entire programme.
- ●Hostel and accommodation fees — 100%. Covered in full, because you have no home to live in while you study.
- ●Examination fees — 100%. Covered in full.
Everything is paid directly to your college or institution, for the whole length of your course. Every other Vedicology Foundation scholarship funds part of a student's fees. Usually 50% to 75%. Most students have some family able to contribute the rest. A care leaver does not. So this is the one programme funded in full, kept for that exact circumstance.
The 60% Class 12 bar: lower than any other programme
You need 60% in Class 12 to apply — the same figure whether you're heading into an undergraduate or a postgraduate course. This is the lowest marks bar of any Vedicology Foundation scholarship, set there on purpose. Reaching Class 12 at all, with no parent and no home of your own behind you, is already its own kind of achievement.
To continue, you need 70% each semester. Your first semester is a grace period — support is never paused over marks while you settle in. If a later semester slips, you get one recovery semester to bring it back up, and support resumes automatically the moment it does. You never have to reapply.
Vocational course funding for care leavers: the alternative to a degree
Not every care leaver wants a college degree, and that's completely fine. Vocational course funding for care leavers works the same way as the college route: fully funded, not partial. If your strength is in a skill rather than the classroom, Vedicology Foundation will fund a vocational training course in full, so you leave with a trade, a certificate, and a way to earn. This is an equal path, not a lesser one.
How to prove you are a care leaver
You'll need the documents a girl leaving a Child Care Institution would normally already have:
- ●A referral or discharge letter from your CCI Superintendent.
- ●Your care or orphan records from the institution.
- ●Your usual identity and academic documents.
The home visit most applicants get becomes an institution visit instead — the team speaks directly with the people who cared for you. If a document is hard to get, that alone should never stop you from asking. Reach out, and the Foundation will help you put everything in order.
Who this scholarship is for
This scholarship is for a girl raised in a registered Child Care Institution who is now leaving it, around 18, with no family to return to. It is for the moment you are in right now — finishing school and stepping into college or a course, not something to look back on years later.
Asking is free. Applying is free. There is no fee, ever. Report anyone who asks for money in the Foundation's name to Email us.
See the marks bar for every other Vedicology Foundation scholarship on the Marks Eligibility page. See who else the Foundation supports on the Who We Support page. Compare this to the Foundation's other scholarships on the Merit Scholarship page, which funds 50% to 75% for students who still have family behind them.
Leaving care soon, or working with a girl who is?
It costs nothing to ask. Talk to Vedicology Foundation on WhatsApp — or if you're a CCI superintendent or warden, reach out on her behalf, ideally before she leaves, while her records are still easy to gather.
Talk to us on WhatsApp