Every donation matters—but knowing exactly what your gift can do makes it easier to decide how much to give.
So, here’s a straight answer: what does a $600 gift actually fund, versus a $1,400 gift, versus $5,600? The numbers below reflect the tiers on our donate page.
$600: A meaningful piece of one year’s tuition at a government college in India
A $600 donation covers a substantial portion of a year’s core costs for a scholar, especially tuition fees. It’s not the full tuition cost of a year for most degree programs, but it’s often the difference between a student staying enrolled and having to pause their studies over an unpaid fee or an unexpected expense.
This is frequently the tier that keeps a scholar from dropping out mid-year, not because the whole year is unfunded, but because one gap at the wrong moment is enough to derail a semester.
$1,400: A full year of tuition, hostel, and meals largely covered
At $1,400, a donation moves from “helps get through a rough patch” to “funds most of an academic year.” For many of our scholars pursuing engineering or MBBS degree programs, this level approaches what a full year of tuition and basic living costs requires.
This is the tier most donors choose when they want to sponsor a specific student’s year rather than contribute to the general fund. It’s large enough to feel like a complete commitment to one person’s progress.
$5,600: The full duration of a four-year course at a government college in India
Some of our scholars are in higher-cost programs—medical school, specialized engineering degrees, and professional courses with additional lab, hostel, or equipment fees. $5,600 is calibrated closer to a full year of support for these programs, where tuition alone tends to run higher than a general degree.
A scholar at a medical college, for example, often has meaningfully higher annual costs than a scholar in a commerce program at the same university. This tier reflects that difference rather than treating every degree as costing the same.
Why does the range exist at all?
India’s higher education costs vary enormously by field and institution. A government engineering college charges differently than a private medical college; hostel costs differ by city; some scholars need a laptop or lab equipment that others don’t. Rather than pretend every scholar has identical costs, these three tiers roughly track the real range of what a year of support requires across our scholar cohort.
If a single gift feels like a lot, spread it out
A $1,400 annual commitment breaks down to roughly $117 a month, or about $27 a week. Framed that way, it’s often more approachable than the lump sum suggests, and recurring monthly giving also gives us more predictable support to plan around when matching students to funding.
What does this mean for you as a donor?
If you’re deciding how much to give, the honest answer is: give at whichever tier reflects the level of commitment you want to make and know that even the smallest tier is rarely wasted. It’s usually the difference at a specific, real moment in a specific student’s year.
But if you want your gift to feel like it fully carried one student through a year, $1,000 to $1,400 is where that actually happens, depending on their field of study.
Learn more about the Lakshya Scholarship, meet our scholars, or choose a donation level.