A scholarship search platform is software that matches a student with the scholarships and education loans they qualify for, and then helps them apply. It is usually a part of a study abroad consultancy platform, though some run on their own.
The problem it solves is scattered information. Thousands of scholarships exist, offered by governments, universities, companies, trusts and groups of former students. Each has its own conditions, such as the student's marks, family income, home state, gender, subject or country of study. Each has its own deadline and its own form. No student can read them all.
Here is how it works. The student fills in one profile: marks, course, country and university, family income and the documents they hold. The software compares the profile with the conditions of every scholarship in its database. It lists only those that the student meets, with each one's deadline and amount. Many universities award their scholarships automatically, with the offer letter, through their admissions management software. Others need a separate application. Some scholarships are paid for by former students, through the university's alumni management software.
The same profile is used for loans. A lender decides an education loan on the course, the university, the salary the student can expect afterwards and the family's ability to repay. A parent or guardian is usually the co-applicant, a second borrower who is equally responsible for repaying the loan. The lender checks the co-applicant's credit score, a number from 300 to 900 that sums up how that person has repaid past loans.
Take, for example, a student in Ranchi who has been admitted to a one-year master's course in data science in Ireland. The total cost, with fees and living costs, is about ₹28 lakh. Her CGPA is 8.6, and her family's income is ₹7 lakh a year. The software finds 14 scholarships that she may qualify for. The deadlines of 9 have passed, so she applies to the other 5. She wins a university scholarship of ₹4 lakh. That leaves ₹24 lakh. Her father, the co-applicant, has a credit score of 770. The software shows three lenders that lend this amount for her course without collateral, which is property pledged as security for a loan. One of them approves an education loan of ₹22 lakh, and her family pays the remaining ₹2 lakh from savings.
How does the platform earn? Mostly from the lenders, which pay it a fee for each loan they pay out. The scholarship search itself is usually free for students.
How is it different from a government scholarship portal? A government portal lists the government's own scholarships, and the student applies there. A scholarship search platform collects scholarships from many sources, and it also brings in education loans.