IIT Gandhinagar hostel fee hike during COVID-19 angers students

NEW DELHI: Students of Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar ( (IIT-GN), Gujarat, are enraged at the hike in their hostel fees for the summer term, introduced during the devastating second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in India.

The institute has raised the fee for the summer term by about 87%, they say. The regular hostel fee is Rs 4,000 per term. IIT Gandhinagar has allowed students to go home because of the rising cases of COVID-19 but in case they continue to stay in the campus during this period, they will have to pay an additional Rs 175 per day. IIT GN, however, said that the decision on increasing hostel fees had been taken in 2019 and implemented with effect from July that year. But the change was held in abeyance for 2020 due to the hardship and disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Students say they are in a fix. They are not able to travel back home because there is a partial or full lockdown in most of the states and they need to stay back in the institute to carry on with their online classes and complete the assignments.

‘Half my village is COVID-positive’

“Students are really affected as they cannot leave the hostel and go back home because of the lockdown in most of the states in the country. Where will they pay the money from? Also internship etc have to be completed”, a student involved with Ambedkar Periyar Phule Study Circle (APPSC) told Careers360.

The students say that while the decision to raise the fee was taken in 2019 by the board of governors. It was not implemented in 2020. The students did not expect the management to proceed with the hike in 2021 without consulting them.

“IIT Gandhinagar is the most expensive of all the IITs. It is difficult as it is. I come from a village where more than half of the population is COVID positive now. How do I travel back home?” asked another student.

Fee hike in 2019: IITGN

However, a spokesperson of the institute told Careers360 over email that the institute had implemented the fee hike from July 2019. “In March 2019, the Board of Governors had approved new fees structures, which were implemented with effect from July 2019. This fees structure has been known to the entire student body and is also available as an “advisory” on our internal website since 2019”, the spokesperson said.

Further, the spokesperson said that in the summer of 2020, due to the pandemic and lockdown, hostel occupancy was severely disrupted and hence the fee hike was not applicable. “Many students had rooms locked in the hostel, but were away and could not return to vacate them. Similarly, many students were in the hostel, but wanted to go home. Hence, as a very special one-time measure, the Institute decided to not charge hostel room rent in the summer of 2020.”

Demand for roll-back, COVID quarantine fee

The students are now demanding a roll-back on the fee hike. A section of students went to meet the administration, they were given a “vague reason” that the hike in hostel fees is because of “operational costs”.

The administration also refused to give a break up of the operational cost, they said.

The institute, the students say, is also charging Rs 4,000 from those who come back from their homes and have to spend 14 days in quarantine.

“We raised a voice against that and we also reached out to the alumni that they should pressurize the administration to not take quarantine fees. Rs 4,000 is huge money for 10 to 14 days, especially during the pandemic,” said the student associated with APPSC. “They [administration] would tell us the money will be used for student welfare.”

Incidentally, IIT Gandhinagar has recently released a whitepaper on creating campus COVID-19 centers to encourage other higher educational institutions to set up similar facilities.

A student senate meeting has been called the date for which will be finalized soon.

The meeting’s agenda includes discussions and resolutions on the fee hike; resolution against high living expenses in the campus; resolution against the practise of imposing monetary fines and penalties; proposal to consult students before implementing fee hike and proposal to regain the credibility of the student senate, said students.

Write to us at news@careers360.com .