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IIT Bombay hikes charges, Delhi to follow suit soon

Undergraduate students hit the most, to pay Rs 6,500 more per semester

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The Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (IIT-B), has hiked its fees under several heads including hostel rent, gymkhana charges, medical expenses, and exam charges for the academic year 2017-18.  

The new fees were declared recently on the institute’s official website and students have to pay the sum by July 11, 2017, with delayed payments permissible till July 19, against a fine of Rs 100 per day. The hikes ranging from 100-300 per cent per head will be implemented July onward. While gymkhana expenses for the undergraduates have gone up from Rs 750 to Rs 2000, the hostel rent has shot up from Rs 500 to Rs 2,000. Registration and examination fees have been raised from Rs 500 to Rs 1,000.

The overall hike for undergraduate students will be up to Rs 6,500 per semester while for the post graduate and M Tech students it will be Rs 2,250 per semester. Tuition fees, however, remain the same for the undergraduate courses, as the IIT Council fixes this amount, which is uniformly implemented across all IITs. Scheduled Castes/ Scheduled Tribes/ Persons With Disability students will see a more than 24 per cent hike since they are exempt from paying tuition fees.

Several student groups protested the hike as they were not consulted before such a major decision. “How can they increase the charges of essentials suddenly? There was no consultation with students at all,” said a PhD scholar from the Institute.

Soumyo Mukherjee, Dean of Student Affairs, said that the hike was to offset inflation. “Rates of food have gone up and electricity has become costlier too. We have not hiked the hostel charges since 1997. The Institute has considered this carefully and kept the hike as minimal as possible,” he said.

DNA has learnt that IIT Delhi is also likely to follow suit, although authorities are yet to decide on exact amount. Also, the current batch in IIT Delhi won’t be affected, only new entrants will have to bear the brunt.  

Confirming the development, Director IIT Delhi Prof. V Ramagopal Rao told DNA, “We are planning to hike the hostel and mess fee in the coming days. We haven’t decided on how much the increase will be. Our fees are already higher than IIT Bombay, so we will keep students’ interests in mind.”

In a meeting of the IIT Council with former HRD Minister Smriti Iranilast year, it was decided to increase tuition fees in the coming year, however the current HRD minister has put the decision on hold. While the council takes a call on increasing the tuition fee, local expenses like hostel and mess are decided by individual IITs.

...& ANALYSIS

  • Considering the rising costs of living in metros like Mumbai, hike iisn’t much
     
  • The authorirties should have discussed the issue with students
     
  • The administration must ensure the campus standards live up to the hike
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