Vocational Education Fee Reimbursement is a Maharashtra scheme run by the Tribal Development Department for Scheduled Tribe (ST) students. It covers students enrolled in vocational courses such as engineering, pharmacy, animal husbandry, dairy development, Vaastu Shastra, MBA and MCA. It pays the tuition and exam fees that your college charges under its approved fee structure.
Applications for 2026-27 are made online. Fresh and renewal applications for the Academic Year 2026-27 will be accepted only through the MahaDBT 2.0 Portal. Family income must be above 2.50 lakh. Families at or below that level are eligible for the Government of India Post Matric Scholarship instead.
What you get
- Reimbursement of your tuition fee and exam fee, as set in your college’s approved fee structure.
- No living allowance. The scheme does not pay money for hostel or food.
- Refundable deposits are not reimbursed.
- The approved fee is paid to the college’s bank account by ECS, not to you.
- A college may not charge an ST student any tuition amount at admission under this scheme.
The official sources do not publish a fixed rupee amount. Your college’s approved fee decides the amount.
Who can apply
- You must belong to a Scheduled Tribe. Only ST students are covered by the scheme.
- You must have a Maharashtra domicile certificate. ST students from other states do not qualify, even if they study in Maharashtra.
- Your family’s annual income must be above 2.50 lakh (Rs. 2,50,000). Applicants whose parents’ income is above 2.5 lakhs can apply.
- You must have passed SSC, HSC or an equivalent exam.
- You must be admitted to an approved diploma, degree or postgraduate course through the state’s CAP round. Admissions under management quota, institutional quota, spot round or mock-up round do not qualify.
- Courses named in the scheme include engineering, pharmacy, Vaastu Shastra, MBA and MCA. The GR also covers health sciences such as nursing, agriculture, animal husbandry, dairy and fisheries courses, and full-time State Board diplomas after Class 10.
- Arts, commerce or science graduates who later join an approved vocational course can apply.
- You cannot qualify if you took admission in a deemed university or a self-financed private university.
- You cannot qualify if you already received another government scholarship or fee reimbursement.
- The official sources do not give an age limit or minimum marks.
How to apply
- Go to the MahaDBT 2.0 portal (mahadbt2.maharashtra.gov.in). Fresh and renewal applications for 2026-27 are accepted only there.
- Register as a new applicant. If you have an Aadhaar number, select Yes and enter the number, then choose the OTP option and click send OTP. Without Aadhaar, you verify your email and mobile by OTP instead.
- Log in with the username and password you created.
- Fill in your profile: personal details, domicile, income, caste, address, parents’ details, past qualification, current course and hostel details. The portal suggests eligible schemes after your profile is filled.
- Open the All Schemes list, find Vocational Education Fee Reimbursement under the Tribal Development Department, answer its questions and submit.
- Track the application under My Applied Scheme. If the desk sends it back, the reason for the return is shown to you. Correct it and use the re-apply option.
Your college checks the application first. After that, the department approves it, and the status changes to Approved.
For help, the portal lists a helpline at 022-49150800.
Documents you need
- Caste certificate issued by the competent authority.
- Caste validity certificate.
- Maharashtra domicile certificate.
- College admission receipt.
- Aadhaar card. Your bank account must be linked to Aadhaar, because Aadhaar seeding to bank account is an important requirement for beneficiaries of various DBT schemes to receive DBT benefits.
- A gap certificate with an affidavit, if your studies had a break.
For uploads on the portal, PDF files should be under 256 KB, and JPEG or JPG files should be between 5 KB and 20 KB.
How students are selected
Applications are checked against the eligibility rules above. The official sources do not describe a merit list or a limit on the number of students. Your college must certify that you attended at least 75% of classes, and a student may hold only one vocational course at a time until it is completed.
Renewal
- You must pass the previous year’s exam. If a student fails in any year, the scholarship is not paid for that year.
- After a failure, you are ineligible for the next year. You regain eligibility after you pass, or clear the backlog and move up.
- If you fail two or more times during the whole course, you lose eligibility for the rest of the course.
- Renewal for 2026-27 is made on the MahaDBT 2.0 portal.
Important dates
- For 2026-27, fresh and renewal applications are accepted only on the MahaDBT 2.0 portal.
- Under the yearly plan in the GR, student registration opens in June and closes at the end of December. Colleges’ online entries close at the end of January.
- The official sources do not give a closing date for 2026-27. Apply early.
