IIT Guwahati students protest ‘exceptionally high’ fee hike; research, mess, hostel charges increased

Raising their voices against an “exceptionally high” fee hike, research scholars and MTech students at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Guwahati staged a protest on campus on Tuesday, according to a report by NDTV.

The mass protest followed allegations that the administration failed to uphold commitments made during an open house session on July 17, 2025. The meeting was chaired by the director of IIT Guwahati, and attended by deans of student and academic affairs, along with senior college officials.

In addition to increased fees for research scholars and for BTech, MTech programmes, the institute has reportedly raised charges for mess, hostel rent, gymkhana, medical services, and registration charges, NDTV reported.

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"An open house discussion was held last week, and the administration said that they are there to listen to us, but it appears that they were there to buy time. Tuesday (July 22) was the day of registration for the July-November semester. However, you cannot register without paying the fee, and the premier institute did not communicate properly on the status of registration because, after the open house, we were promised a revision of the fee," a PhD scholar told NDTV.

Citing sources, NDTV also reported that several research scholars were allegedly stopped from registering for the semester on Tuesday due to non-payment of the revised fee, which led to the protests.

IIT Guwahati “hiked” fee plan

According to the report, the semester fee for PhD scholars has increased by Rs 10,900 from Rs 34,800 to Rs 45,700 for the July-November term.

"Incoming students are expected to pay an exorbitant amount of Rs 92,000. Besides, each semester, their total fee with the current revision will be around Rs 57,000 (because of the new tuition fee applied to them). That is 20k more than their stipend," one of the scholars said in the report.

Furthermore, the student’s mess charges have also gone up from Rs 12,000 to Rs 22,000 despite a reported decline in the quality and nutritional value of food, the report added.

“Gymkhana fee has doubled from Rs 1,000 to Rs 2,000. Medical fee has seen a five-fold rise from Rs 100 to Rs 500. Hostel rent has doubled from Rs 1,000 to Rs 2,000 and hostel fund has seen a nearly four-fold increase from Rs 600 to Rs 2,200. Registration or enrollment has also seen a two-fold increase from Rs 1,000 to Rs 2,000,” the report said.