panaji the state government has discontinued a scheme providing financial assistance to students from financially backward families to pursue higher education in reputed indian institutions such as iims iits and bits the number of students from goa joining such institutions has increased exponentially over the past few years introduced in 2011 the scheme was managed by the directorate of higher education financial assistance provided under it included refund of fees paid to the institution concerned subject to a maximum of rs 1 lakh per annum a onetime grant of up to rs 50000 to purchase a laptop a monthly allowance of rs 2000 to cover hostel charges and rs 15000 per annum towards stationery and other costs students with an annual family income of not more than rs 10 lakh were eligible for benefits under the scheme they were required to score at least 60 marks to continue getting aid during the subsequent years of the programme students could avail of financial assistance under the scheme beyond their first year of studies only if the their respective families had an annual income of rs 45 lakh and below