The Bihar government has clarified that reports claiming a reduction in the education loan amount under the Bihar Student Credit Card Scheme are factually incorrect. The state government said that the financial assistance available to students for higher education has been expanded. This gives them access to more funding options than before. According to an official press release, students can still avail themselves of financial assistance of up to Rs 4 lakh. The government has also linked the scheme with banks and central government initiatives to help more students access education loans.
The Higher Education Department has introduced a new arrangement for providing financial assistance under the Bihar Student Credit Card Scheme. Students can now receive an education loan of up to Rs 2 lakh through the Bihar State Education Finance Corporation.
For loan amounts between Rs 2 lakh and Rs 4 lakh, students can approach scheduled commercial banks. Earlier, the entire education loan amount of up to Rs 4 lakh was provided through the Bihar State Education Finance Corporation.
The government clarified that this change does not mean that the maximum loan amount has been reduced. Instead, the process has been expanded by involving banks to provide financial support to a larger number of students.
The Bihar government has integrated the Bihar Student Credit Card Scheme with the Pradhan Mantri Uchchatar Shiksha Protsahan Yojana, the PM VidyaLakshmi Portal and scheduled commercial banks.
According to the government, the aim is to provide institutional financial assistance for higher education to the maximum number of eligible students. Students can also explore education loans of up to Rs 10 lakh through the PM VidyaLakshmi Yojana. This gives students additional options to arrange funds for higher education and continue their academic journey without financial difficulties.
The Bihar government has also increased the approved expenditure for the scheme. An expenditure of Rs 886 crore was approved for the 2025-26 financial year, while Rs 950 crore has been approved for 2026-27. This marks an increase of Rs 64 crore compared with the previous financial year.
The state government said the figures clearly show that financial assistance under the scheme has increased rather than decreased. The objective is to make higher education more accessible and ensure that the maximum number of students can benefit from institutional financial support.