Starting this June, the research scholars at IIT-Madras will have to pay double the usual amount for their academic fees.
As per sources, nearly 2,500 M.S. students and PhD scholars at the institute will have to pay Rs 8,200 as academic fees, up from Rs. 4,100 they paid last year. In total each research scholar will have to pay around Rs 27,000 for their course, instead of Rs. 22,000. The increase has been quite steep.
According to a statement issued by a M.S Student the academic fee has been doubled. The authorities have also increased gymkhana fees that include auditorium and sports facilities from Rs 100 to Rs 1,000. He added that even the hostel rent has gone up from Rs 550 to Rs. 2,250 a semester. He also added that they could have increased the fee gradually instead of this sudden hike.
As per students the fee hike was not on the senate meeting agenda, and not many of them were aware of the proposal being floated. Besides, as far as M.S. students are concerned, they don’t even have classes after the first year. Moreover, those they don’t have to write exams, they just pursue their theses and leave the institution once they finish it. Another student has asked that what is the point of charging them extra fees for facilities they don’t use?
Furthermore, sources have also added that it was only a few months ago that all IITs hiked fees for undergraduate students by 80 per cent from Rs. 50,000 a year to Rs. 90,000. According to a statement issued by the Dean Prof. L.S. Ganesh, the decision to hike the fees was taken at a meeting of deans held at IIT–Roorkee recently. The hike was primarily to standardize fees across all IITs, and student bodies were consulted before the decision was taken. He added that the hikes for hostel and gymkhana fees were decided by the IIT council, the participatory body of all IITs.
