How to Apply for the Honhaar Scholarship in Punjab When the 2026 Round Opens

The only place to apply for the Honhaar Scholarship is honhaarscholarship.punjabhec.gov.pk, and it costs nothing. But on 25 September 2026 the portal was not taking new Punjab applications, and no official page gives a 2026 last date.

We opened the Honhaar Scholarship portal at 21:30 PKT on Friday 25 September 2026. The registration form offered one province only: Azad Jammu and Kashmir. Its banner read "New Registration is now open for Azad Jammu and Kashmir students". Punjab was not in the list.

The "30 September" date shared online for 2026 does appear on the portal. It sits in the FAQ, and it says 30th September, 2025. That was last year's deadline. So until the Punjab Higher Education Commission (PHEC) opens the 2026 round, treat any 2026 last date as reported, not confirmed.

The Honhaar Scholarship 2026 at a glance

The Honhaar Scholarship pays 100% of tuition for Punjab-domiciled students in selected BS, MBBS and BDS programmes. It pays no cash stipend. Applications are free and online only. On 25 September 2026 no Punjab 2026 intake was open.

Plenty of pages promise a monthly stipend on top of tuition. The portal's own FAQ says the opposite: the scholarship "only covers defined tuition fees". Plan your hostel and travel money separately.

Who can apply, based on the last Punjab round

In the 2025 round, a Punjab domicile, first semester enrolment in a listed programme, at least 70% in intermediate for science or 65% for arts, and a family income affidavit were required. The 2026 rules are not published yet.

These are the conditions on the portal's FAQ and in the 2025 notices that universities posted from PHEC. Expect the 2026 round to look similar, but check the portal when it opens.

• Domicile: Punjab only. If your domicile application is still pending, the FAQ accepts the receiving slip. The domicile certificate takes time, so start it now.
• Year of study: first semester or first year of a selected discipline. First year MBBS and BDS students also qualify. Second semester and above were not eligible in the first-semester round.
• Institution: public sector universities, Higher Education Department (HED) colleges, public medical and dental colleges, and selected federal and private universities. Affiliated and private colleges are not eligible.
• Income: Bahauddin Zakariya University's August 2025 notice set the cap at Rs 350,000 a month for public institutions and Rs 500,000 for federal or private ones, shown by an affidavit on e-stamp paper.
• Age and gender: no age limit and open to all genders in the 2025 round. An older February 2025 round had an age cap of 22, so read the 2026 criteria.
• No double funding: students already getting another government scholarship or fee waiver cannot apply.

Minimum intermediate marks differ by institution type:

If your intermediate Part 2 result is not out, the FAQ lets you apply with Part 1 marks and update them later. For Punjab students that matters less this year, because the 12th class result for Punjab boards came out on 23 September.

How to apply for the Honhaar Scholarship online

You register with your CNIC, fill five tabs of personal, address, education and document details, upload six documents under 200 KB each, and press Submit. The steps below come from PHEC's own How to Apply guide and the live form.

1. Open honhaarscholarship.punjabhec.gov.pk and click Apply Now or Login. Type the address yourself.
2. Create an account. The form asks for nationality, province, institute type (university, college or medical college), your institution, CNIC without dashes, email and a password of at least six letters and numbers. Use your own CNIC. PHEC says another person's CNIC means disqualification.
3. Save the username and password shown on screen, then sign in with your CNIC as username and the captcha.
4. Download the sample affidavit from the first tab. Get it printed on stamp paper of at least Rs 50 and signed.
5. Fill the Personal Detail tab and upload a recent photo, maximum 200 KB, face clearly visible.
6. Fill the Address tab, then the Education tab with your matric and intermediate details.
7. Upload documents in JPG or PNG under 200 KB: CNIC front, CNIC back, matric certificate, intermediate certificate, domicile and affidavit.
8. Check everything on the Review tab, then press Submit. Saving is not submitting. You should see "Thank you for applying in Honhaar Scholarship!" and an application ID. Print that page.

No hard copy is needed. The FAQ is blunt that an application not submitted online is treated as ineligible. If you need an e-stamp paper for the affidavit, you can issue one online without visiting a vendor.

What the scholarship pays and how you keep it

PHEC pays tuition fees and admission charges straight to your university for four or five years. You must keep a 2.50 GPA each semester and a 3.00 CGPA, or 60% in annual exams. Leaving early means refunding the money.

We read PHEC's signed terms and conditions on the portal. The main points:

• The award lasts four or five years, the length of the degree. PHEC pays nothing after that.
• It covers tuition and admission charges but not boarding, lodging or refundable security.
• You cannot change university. Doing so cancels the scholarship. Changing programme inside the same university is allowed with notice to PHEC.
• If you freeze a semester, the cost of that break is yours.
• You sign a Deed of Agreement and Surety Bond with your institution.
• If you withdraw or break the terms, you must refund all the support you received.

Universities apply the grades rule at each semester. Government College University Faisalabad's Spring 2026 notice, for example, said awardees needed a CGPA of 2.70 and a GPA of 2.50 to get their fee voucher. Your own university's financial aid office will tell you its figure.

How many scholarships there are

The Higher Education Department says 30,000 Honhaar scholarships a year, across 68 disciplines, with Rs 130 billion over eight years. The portal's FAQ counts 70 disciplines. No district or special quota is published.

The Chief Minister's Special Monitoring Unit gives the numbers by phase:

• Phase I: 30,000 scholarships for first semester BS students and first year medical students.
• Phase II: 20,000 scholarships for 3rd to 8th semester BS students and 2nd to 5th year MBBS and BDS students.
• Phase III: 5,000 scholarships for students from other provinces.

Selection is on merit within those limits. The FAQ says results come by email or on the portal, and no 2026 result date is published. Students from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Kashmir apply in their own round, which is the one open on the portal now.

Fixes when the portal or your data goes wrong

Most problems have a stated fix. Use sign in, not a new account, if your CNIC already exists. Open a private browser window for captcha errors. Ask your university's focal person to correct data after submission.

• "CNIC already exist": the portal says do not make a new account. Go to Sign In and use Forgot Password if needed.
• Wrong password or captcha: the sign-in page tells you to use a private or incognito window.
• No CNIC yet: the form field is labelled CNIC and PHEC wants your own. We found no official line on using a B-Form. Call the helpline before you register rather than guessing.
• Wrong details after submitting: contact the Honhaar focal person at your university or college. If the focal person rejects your form, the FAQ gives one chance to correct it by email. Miss it and you are out.
• University or programme not in the list: only the drop-down options are eligible. A programme not listed there is not covered.
• Punjab not in the province list: that is the position today. The Punjab round is not open. Wait for PHEC's announcement.
• Portal slow or not loading: try again later, or call 042-99231903 between 9am and 5pm.

How to avoid fake Honhaar sites and fee scams

The real portal ends in punjabhec.gov.pk and charges no fee. Any site, WhatsApp message or agent asking for a registration fee, a processing charge or your password is not PHEC. Close it and apply yourself.

Many lookalike websites use "Honhaar" in their names and copy the portal's colours. Some post a last date that no official page carries. Others ask for money to "confirm" a place. The FAQ says there is no fee for submitting the application.

Bahauddin Zakariya University went further in February 2026. It told its Honhaar awardees to submit notarised documents only through their department's focal person and to beware of fake document providers.

Keep your CNIC and password to yourself. PHEC will reach you by email or on the portal, not through a stranger's phone number.

How Honhaar differs from the HEC and BISP scholarships

Honhaar is a Punjab government scheme run by PHEC, based on merit with an income cap. The HEC need-based and BISP undergraduate scholarships are federal, need-based, and have their own portals and rules. You cannot hold two for the same tuition.

The BISP undergraduate scholarship, once called the Ehsaas scholarship, runs through the Higher Education Commission and pays a yearly stipend as well as tuition, according to HEC. Honhaar pays tuition only, but its published income cap of Rs 350,000 a month lets many middle-income families qualify.

PHEC's terms say Honhaar "cannot be combined with any government or private scholarship covering tuition fees". Pick the one that suits you. Laptops are a separate matter: the Punjab laptop scheme has its own eligibility and does not affect a Honhaar award.

Common questions

What is the last date for the Honhaar Scholarship 2026?

No official 2026 last date exists yet. The 30 September date in the portal's FAQ is for 2025. We checked the portal on 25 September 2026 and it was only registering AJK students.

Does the Honhaar Scholarship give a monthly stipend?

No. The portal FAQ says it covers tuition fees only. Boarding, lodging, transport and other costs are not included.

Is there any fee to apply for the Honhaar Scholarship?

No. The FAQ states there is no fee for submitting the application. Anyone charging a fee is not PHEC.

Can students at private colleges apply?

No. Affiliated and private colleges are not eligible. Selected federal and private universities are eligible, if the programme is on the list.

Can I apply if I am in my third semester?

Not in a first-semester round. Earlier rounds did cover 3rd to 8th semester students, so watch the portal for the next announcement.

Can I change university after getting the scholarship?

No. PHEC's terms say changing university cancels the scholarship. You can change programme inside the same university with notice to PHEC.

Last checked and sources

We last checked every source below at 21:30 PKT on 25 September 2026. We will update this page when PHEC opens the Punjab 2026 round.

• PHEC Honhaar portal: home page, registration form, FAQ, How to Apply guide and terms and conditions, at honhaarscholarship.punjabhec.gov.pk
• Higher Education Department, Punjab: Honhaar Scholarship Program
• Chief Minister's Special Monitoring Unit: Honhaar Scholarships phase figures, smu.punjab.gov.pk
• University notices: Bahauddin Zakariya University (August 2025 and February 2026), Government College University Faisalabad (February 2026), University of the Punjab
• Helpline 042-99231903, email honhaar@punjabhec.gov.pk