IIT fee revision might be on the cards; education ministry panel to examine institute finances

NEW DELHI: The Indian Institutes of Technology may be looking at a fee hike. The ministry of education has established a committee to examine the issue of fees at the IITs. A member confirmed that the report will be submitted to the IIT Council.

The fee for the undergraduate BTech programme was last raised in 2016, from Rs 90,000 to Rs 2 lakh. At the same time, students from Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and those differently-abled were granted full waiver.

While the member who spoke to Careers360 did not divulge who else is in the committee, The Telegraph reported that the panel includes the directors of IIT Bombay, IIT Indore and IIT Tirupati. They are to examine the existing fee structure, total fee collection, expenditure and the IITs and recurring expenses, the report says.

“We are just looking at the fees issue at IITs and nothing else for now,” a member told Careers360. “While the IIT Council meeting date has not been communicated by the ministry yet, the committee’s work is in progress. Only after the IIT Council decides, the details will be shared,” he said.

He added that the members have no clarity on if or when the recommendations will be implemented.

The IIT Council, chaired by the education minister, is the highest decision making authority for the IIT system. Among other things, it decides on fees.

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IIT Fees: ‘No longer accessible’

“Accessibility to IITs is reducing year-on-year due to rising fees, " said a student, one of the leaders of the fee hike protest at IIT Bombay, asking not to be named. In 2019 as well, there was an effort to raise the fees for the MTech courses.

Members of administration in the IITs have often cited the infrastructure loans the institutions have taken from the Higher Education Finance Agency to fund their expansion as the reason behind raising fees. The HEFA loan was cited as the reason for raising hostel fees at IIT Delhi .

While the BTech tuition is fixed, according to students, the IIT Bombay fees work out to about Rs 1,23,350 per semester and the IIT Delhi fees, to Rs 1,06,250 per semester.

Careers360 has previously reported how the Narendra Modi government asked institutions to raise student fees and cut costs to make the HEFA loan scheme viable.

IIT fee hike

Over the last few years, top IITs, including IIT Bombay and IIT Delhi have witnessed fee hike protests. At IIT Bombay in 2022, 50% fees were increased for masters and research programmes. Similarly, in IIT Delhi the same year, MTech students reported a 100% fee hike. Charges for hostel and mess services have also risen.

A student from IIT Bombay who led the protest against the fee hike stated that there is a lack of clarity from the institute on the rationale behind the several components being added to the fees.

She said: “In 2022, the institute had introduced a sudden fee hike with many gaps in the rationale of how the institute introduced the fee components. PhD students are made to pay course fees, non-mess fees despite a different hostel fees being paid already with no explanations. Now in the last two years, the institute is still increasing the fees but in a moderate way like Rs 500-Rs 1,000 per semester in certain components. Even for the new incoming, the fees are increased.”

A scholar who led the protest at IIT Delhi echoed her: “Subsidy on mess fees has decreased over the last three years. With new hostels coming up on campus, students are made to pay for everything, even for minute repairs. This should not happen. As a public institute, the government must support students and not fetch profits from the students.”

On the lack of accessibility to marginalised students, the student from IIT Bombay added: “While it's already difficult for these students to get into these institutes due to low number of scholarships and the number of intake for PhD students is also extremely low. Due to high admission and semester fees, students are under high pressure to fare better leading to many students falling behind. Hence, the committee must look at supporting these students better."