Design education in most universities is very expensive, costing upwards of Rs 5-6 lakhs per year in just tuition. At JKLU, we believe that design education will play an important role in transforming our nation and we want this education to be accessible to as many students as possible. To this end, thanks to liberal support from JK organization, we have been able to keep our annual fees at Rs. 2.75 lakhs (including Rs. 2.5 lakhs of academic fee and Rs. 25,000 as technology fee) for those seeking admission in 2023.

We do understand that even this amount is beyond the means of many students and for some parents who anyway have a doubt whether Design is a good discipline for their wards, this becomes one more reason to push their wards into other disciplines. We want all creative students to study design and money should not be a hindrance.

So we have decided a very generous scholarship scheme for B.Des. students. The scholarship offered can be up to 100% of the academic fee and it can continue for all four years depending on performance.

The scholarship has four major pillars. We will consider the performance in the 10th class board exams, 12th class board exams, performance in the JKLU’s Design Entrance Test, and the quality of portfolio submitted for the admission purposes. In each of these pillars, one can get 25% scholarship. So if you are good in all four pillars, you can get 100% scholarship, that is no academic fees is to be paid by you.

What are these performance requirements. Well, they depend on when you apply. We strongly encourage students to apply early to get the maximum scholarship. The three deadlines are: 31st January, 13th March, and 10th April.

If you apply till 31st January, the performance requirements are the least. If you apply between 1st February and 13th March, the performance requirements go up. And if you apply between 14th March and 10th April, they will go up further.

For 10th class marks, you get 25% scholarship if your marks in 5 specified subjects is more than 75% and you apply till 31st January. If apply later but by 13th March, you get 25% scholarship if your marks are more than 80%. And if you apply after 13th March but by 10th April, you get 25% scholarship if your marks are more than 85%.

Similarly, for 12th class marks, you get 25% scholarship if your marks in 4 specified subjects is more than 75% for applicants till 31st January, 80% for applicants till 13th March, and 85% for applicants till 10th April. If you are taking 12th class exams this year, the cutoff applicable to you will be based on your application date (subject to your accepting admission within the deadline).

So anyone who has marks between 75% and 80% in either 10th or in 12th (or are expecting marks in this range in 12th), it is hugely beneficial to apply by 31st January and if you have marks between 80 and 85% in either 10th or 12th, it is hugely beneficial to apply before 13th March.

For JKLU’s DET, you get 25% scholarship if you are in the top 15% of the students taking DET in February or March, but you get 25% scholarship only if you are in the top 10% of the students taking DET in April. So, there is a strong incentive to take the Design Entrance Test in Feb/March.

For the portfolio round, the Institute of Design will recommend 25% scholarship if the quality of portfolio is excellent. This is based on subjective evaluation by faculty of Design.

So, now if you did do very well in 10th and 12th classes and you have a great portfolio, but you missed being in top 10-15% of DET, you will get 75% scholarship (25% each for 10th, 12th and Portfolio.)

But if you are not eligible for 100% scholarship based on our four pillars, there are more possibilities. We consider your performance in extra-curricular like sports, or competitions like Olympiads. If you have a remarkable achievement, a committee in JKLU can still consider you for an upgradation in scholarship by 25%. But admittedly, this is not very common. We have a chess player who has won international tournaments, and a student who has represented her state in a sport. Things like that.

And we do have another option for those who are already part of JK family. Wards of all employees of any JKO entity, siblings of all our students/alumni, will get 25% fee waiver if they are not already on 100% scholarship.

We are quite aware that a lot of universities offer scholarships in the first year to attract students. They are really looking at it as discount. We truly believe that if we are offering something in the name of scholarship, it should usually last for all four years unless the performance of the student in our program is not very good. So our requirement for continuation of scholarship for all four years is very reasonable (check our website for details). Most of the students who were offered scholarships in 2021 under these liberal rules, continue to get scholarship in the second year.

Here are some important links:

Institute of Design, JKLU

Admissions to Institute of Design, JKLU

Admissions site of JKLU