The Central Government has approved a major fee hike for the prestigious chain of Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) making it costlier by over 122 per cent from the forthcoming academic session. The annual fees for undergraduate courses will now be Rs 2 lakh per annum from existing Rs 90,000 for new enrollments from the upcoming academic session. The already enrolled students will, however, continue to pay the old slabs.
The Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry has also decided to give a total fee waiver for the differently-abled, students from SC and ST communities and those belonging to families with annual income less than Rs 1 lakh. The decision to hike the fee has been taken by the HRD Ministry following a
proposal by a high-level IIT panel.
A HRD Ministry official said that students from families with annual income of less than Rs 5 lakh will also be entitled to a waiver of two-third amount. “Rest of the students who do not fall under any category will be facilitated interest-free loans,” he said.
Students, who are already enrolled in various IITs, will continue to pay their fee according to the old slabs and the new structure will be applicable only for fresh enrollments, they added.
The panel, headed by IIT Roorkee Chairman Ashok Misra, met last month and approved a proposal for a three-fold increase in tuition fee from the present Rs 90,000 to Rs 3 lakh per annum from the next academic session.
The final decision was taken by HRD Minister Smriti Irani, who chairs the IIT Council, the highest decision-making body of all the 16 IITs.
A proposal for three-fold increase in tuition fee was first introduced before the Standing Committee at its meeting in Mumbai in October 2015, but it was referred to an expert committee comprising IIT directors. There are currently 23 IITs including Chennai, Delhi, Dhanbad, Dharwad, Goa, Guwahati, Jammu, Kanpur, Kharagpur, Mumbai, Palakkad, Patna, Ropar, and Varanasi.