What student programmes cost in India, and what the money should buy

How were these prices read?

Each price was read on the provider’s own page, on the date in the table’s last column; listing sites and search snippets only helped find those pages. Dollar fees are left in dollars; what one comes to in rupees turns on the exchange rate when the family pays.

The words around a figure change what a family pays. So they are copied as printed. Polygence’s programmes “start at ~$3,000” and Indigo Research’s tuition “starts at” $3,900: starting prices, not a named package. Ashoka University prints “+ GST”; GenWise, “GST included”; AIC NMIMS, “Incl. of taxes”; BrightCHAMPS, “per class” and “taxes not included”.

Where a page prints no fee, the cell says so. Plaksha University and AIC NMIMS show only a 2026 fee, labelled as such. No total, average, range or per-hour figure is worked out from the table.

What do student programmes cost, by kind?

The table groups programmes by kind, so each fee sits beside what it buys. “Not stated on the page” marks a question to send the provider in writing.

Programmes a family in India meets for a student in Classes 8 to 12, plus one free research route for contrast. Each price is as the provider’s own page printed it on the date shown, in the page’s currency. Rows are grouped by kind and listed alphabetically within it, not ranked. MUN conferences are not rows: each sets its own delegate fee.

What does the headline price leave out?

Tax comes first. Ashoka University’s fees and Plaksha University’s 2026 fee carry “+ GST”; Krea University’s Rs 35,400 already includes 18% GST, food and accommodation; the dollar pages of Horizon and Pioneer Academics do not mention tax.

Some fees are per unit. BrightCHAMPS prices per class and prints no course total, which this article does not work out. In Ashoka’s Young Scholars Programme the fee follows length: Rs 49,500 + GST for 5-day streams, Rs 85,000 + GST for 10-day ones.

What a residential fee covers differs. Harvard’s includes insurance; GenWise’s includes boarding, meals, residential care, materials, reports and GST; Ashoka’s policy programme page does not say what its fee covers.

Travel sits outside the fee at Yale Young Global Scholars, Immerse Education, GenWise, Harvard and RSI-India. Materials can add more, as the Stanford and Pioneer rows show, and GenWise asks for a laptop and, for two May courses, a paid AI plan.

Some money is due before the full fee. Harvard’s $75 application fee and Ashoka’s INR 1,000 are non-refundable; GenWise’s ₹40,000 seat deposit is refundable in full until 28 February 2027; Pioneer, Immerse and Lumiere name a deposit without an amount.

Paying in parts, or getting money back, can cost too: Polygence adds 8% to its six-instalment plan and deducts a 3.25% processing fee from refunds. Aid lines also differ. Harvard’s aid is only for US citizens, permanent residents or DACA recipients; Horizon’s needs household income below $75,000; Indigo Research offers no scholarships at present.

What should the money buy? Our method

Our method asks for five things in writing before paying, each shown here with rows from the table. It is ours, not a standard any provider has signed up to.

1. Live hours, and who leads them. Count the hours a teacher is present, not the weeks on the calendar. Inspirit AI prints 10 live sessions of 2.5 hours with graduate students; Indigo Research offers 10, 20 or 45 hours one to one with a PhD teaching fellow or faculty mentor.
2. The work. A named piece of work can be checked. Horizon names a 20-page research paper, and RSI-India a paper and a talk. Where a row says the output is not stated, ask what the student will hold at the end.
3. Feedback: how often, and from whom. Polygence includes two rounds from a Writing Fellow with an advanced degree; Horizon lists 4 writing coach sessions; GenWise, a written note from the instructor. A family can put the same question to us about our own programmes.
4. The full cost. Ask for the fee with its tax words and every extra listed above. GenWise prints what its fee covers and what it leaves out; any provider can be asked for both lists.
5. The deposit and refund rule. Get the refund rule in writing before any deposit is paid. Ashoka Horizons prints a dated scale: 100% back on or before 18 April 2027, 50% to 2 May, nothing from 3 May. Yale Young Global Scholars refunds only in extreme cases such as a visa denial.

Which signs mean a family should stop before paying?

Five signs mean a family should stop and ask more before paying:

• admission or publication is promised, in any wording;
• the fee itself carries an award, rank or title, with no judged work behind it;
• review or selection is mentioned but no standard is named, such as a rubric or the kind of reviewer;
• the refund rule is absent, unclear or given only by word of mouth;
• a deadline is used to hurry the decision before the questions are answered.

A price that is not printed is not one of these signs. It is a question to ask, in writing, before paying.

What does a free route still cost?

A free route can still cost travel and time. RSI-India, listed by the Center for Excellence in Education and hosted at IISc in Bengaluru, is “provided cost-free to all participants, including room and board”; the family pays for travel and for the student’s medical insurance. It is for Indian citizens now in Class XI, and applications close 14 December 2026.

SWAYAM’s home page offers free courses and a School section. Toastmasters International’s Youth Leadership Program names no fee: ask the sponsoring club or school. Scholarships are a separate question, covered in our guide to scholarships for school students in India.

Where One Young India fits

We run programmes in this area, so weigh this section with that in mind.

Each of One Young India’s three live programmes, Model NITI Aayog, Entrepreneurship in Action and the Model G20 Summit, “Includes a year of Learnacy Essential”. Learnacy Essential pays for the tools, the courses and the feedback. It never buys acceptance.

Model NITI Aayog is an independent educational programme. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or associated with NITI Aayog or any government body.

The two online programmes each run 16 hours on Zoom over four days; dates and fees are on each programme’s page. The policy bootcamp ends in an original white paper, and in the entrepreneurship programme “every participant builds and ships a working product and a founder’s pitch”, a live product deployed on the internet.

Our pages are silent on any deposit, so a family should ask us before paying.

Refunds follow our Refunds & Cancellations page.

On scholarships, each programme page answers: “Yes. Scholarships are awarded on merit: use ‘Request a scholarship’ below, tick ‘Apply for a merit scholarship’, and write one white paper on our brief.” It adds: “We never ask about family finances.”

Dates and fees sit on each programme page, with all three on the programmes page. On the bootcamp and summit pages, the “Register your interest” form takes no payment.

Common questions

How much does Polygence cost?

Polygence’s FAQ says its programmes “start at ~$3,000”, apart from Pods group courses from $495, without tying that figure to a named package. Its Core Program is ten one-hour mentor sessions over three to six months, with two writing feedback rounds included. A six-instalment plan adds 8%, and financial aid may be available.

Does Lumiere Education publish its price?

Not on the pages read. Lumiere’s own post on the programme’s cost, updated 9 October 2026, says tuition depends on the track, pricing for each track is shared during admissions, it is free to apply, and a deposit holds the place, with no amount printed. A family can note financial need on the application.

What does Harvard’s summer program for high school students cost?

Harvard Summer School puts a 2027 Pre-College Program session at $6,250 in all, with tuition, room and meals, the programme fee and insurance. The $75 application fee is non-refundable. Need-based aid is only for US citizens, permanent residents and DACA recipients; families also pay for books, supplies and travel.

What do public speaking courses for kids cost in India?

BrightCHAMPS’s India page prices its group public speaking courses at ₹773, ₹677 or ₹577 per class by level, with a minimum of 45, 90 or 144 sessions, taxes not included. Toastmasters International’s Youth Leadership Program, for ages 14 to 18, names no fee. Our advice: ask any class for its full fee, with taxes, in writing.

Can a fee buy admission or publication?

No. Polygence “does not guarantee publication or publishing outcomes in peer-reviewed journals”; Lumiere says “No academically rigorous program can or should promise publication”; Horizon, that such a programme “cannot and should not promise publication”. This article claims no admissions effect for any row. Our own programme pages say: “Publication depends on review and is not guaranteed.”

Sources

Each provider’s page was read on 12 November 2026, India time; our own pages were read on 14 November 2026. How these pages are checked and corrected: the editorial desk.

1. AIC NMIMS, Startup Summer School.
2. Ashoka University, YSP Policy, Society & International Affairs, Young Scholars Programme (YSP) and YSP 2027 Admissions.
3. Ashoka University, Ashoka Horizons Achievers Programme for High School Students and How to Apply to Horizons: Application Process.
4. BrightCHAMPS, communication classes for kids and Public Speaking Champion Group.
5. Center for Excellence in Education, Research Science Initiative India (RSI-India).
6. GenWise, Program fees.
7. Harvard Summer School, Pre-College Summer School Program for High School Students and 2027 Cost and Aid.
8. Horizon Academic Research Program, Programs.
9. Immerse Education, Oxford Summer School.
10. Indigo Research, One-on-one mentorship.
11. Inspirit AI, AI Scholars Live Online.
12. Institute for Speech and Debate, Programs.
13. Krea University, Krea Summer School for High School Students.
14. Lumiere Education, Programs, and its post on the Research Scholar Program’s cost, updated 9 October 2026.
15. Pioneer Academics, Admission: Online Research Programs.
16. Plaksha University, YTS+ (formerly Young Technology Scholars).
17. Polygence, Frequently Asked Questions and Core Program.
18. Stanford Pre-Collegiate Summer Institutes, home page and SI Tuition.
19. SWAYAM, home page.
20. Toastmasters International, Youth Leadership Program.
21. Yale Young Global Scholars, home page and Tuition & Aid.
22. One Young India, our own pages: the summit page, the policy bootcamp page, the entrepreneurship programme page and Refunds & Cancellations.

Related

• Opportunity cost: Class 9 and 10 economics notes
• All our programmes
• More on student programmes and admissions
• More for parents