Sri Lanka Mahapola Scholarship Calculator

The calculator runs the official Mahapola Higher Education Scholarship Trust Fund award rules and the University Grants Commission Bursary income test in a single deterministic pass. The Trust was established by Act No. 66 of 1981 and funds undergraduate stipends at every UGC-recognised state university in Sri Lanka. Two parallel schemes are offered: a Merit award for top-ranked students, and a Bursary award for students whose families fall under the UGC income cap.

1. Citizenship and enrolment gate. Mahapola applies only to Sri Lankan citizens registered as full-time undergraduates at a state university. The calculator assumes both are true and states this assumption above the result.
2. Merit test. Each course of study has a top-N district quota set annually by the UGC. The calculator applies a conservative published threshold per course family (top 3 for Dental Surgery and Veterinary; top 5 for Medicine and Law; top 10 for Engineering, IT and Allied Health; top 15 for Science and Management; top 20 for Arts). If your district rank in your course is inside this threshold, Merit is awarded at Rs 5,000 per month.
3. Bursary test. If Merit is not awarded, the UGC Bursary income test runs. You are Bursary-eligible if either (a) family monthly income is at or below Rs 60,000, or (b) household per-capita income (family income ÷ number of dependents) is at or below Rs 12,000. Bursary is awarded at Rs 4,000 per month.
4. Stipend lookup. The monthly stipend depends only on the scheme. Merit pays Rs 5,000 per month; Bursary pays Rs 4,000. These figures match the rate schedule published on mahapola.lk and were verified on 2026-05-16.
5. Payout projection. Mahapola is paid for 10 academic months per year — the two-month vacation between academic years is excluded per Trust Fund practice. Annual payout = monthly × 10. Total payout = annual × course duration in years.
6. UGC Bursary offset. If you are already on the UGC Bursary (Rs 4,000 per month), UGC rules pay only the higher of the two stipends. The calculator subtracts the UGC Bursary from your Mahapola amount so the headline figure is the net additional value.

The page also runs an independent rule-table cross-check function on every input change. If the two implementations disagree on the monthly stipend, the result panel flags a mismatch so the inconsistency can be reported — a small but useful guardrail for a tool that needs to stay synchronised with official rate changes.

• Mahapola Higher Education Scholarship Trust Fund — official site
• University Grants Commission of Sri Lanka — Bursary circulars and Admissions Handbook
• Mahapola Higher Education Scholarship Trust Fund Act, No. 66 of 1981
• Department of Government Information — annual Mahapola allocation press releases

The Merit and Bursary monthly stipends, the UGC Bursary income cap of Rs 60,000, and the per-capita cap of Rs 12,000 were last verified on 2026-05-16. Merit district quotas are conservative reference thresholds drawn from observed UGC award notices — confirm the exact district allocation for your year with your faculty Dean.