IIT to Get 200% Fee Hike After HRD Ministry Acceptance

The standing committee of the pioneering engineering institute, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) has approved a staggering hike of 200% in their annual tuition fees for the undergraduate courses. The tuition fee, which was Rs. 90000 per year presently, could turn out to be Rs 3 lakh per year if this recommendation gets passed by the HRD ministry. The committee also recommended providing interest free scholarships to the students under Vidyalakshmi scheme.

The SCIC in a recent meeting have studied the average cost of per student in the prestigious IIT institutes around the country. According to them the students should at least pay the 60% of the money spent on them. According to SCIC Chairman Ashok Misra, “On an average, it costs a bit over Rs. 5 lakh a year to educate one student at an IIT. But while we approve the increase in fees, we also want to assure students that there will be scholarships and loans and the IIT gates will be open to all, irrespective of their means.”

The hike has been recommended in the document named ‘Roadmap to Financial Autonomy of IITs’, which was prepared by a panel consisting directors of IIT Bombay, Madras, Kanpur and Hyderabad jointly with HRD and finance ministry representatives.  According to the panel, this hike will suffice the maintenance and salary costs to the institute.

Bhaskar Ramamurthi, the director of IIT Madras though made it clear that “The standing committee doesn’t take decisions. We only prepare agenda for the IIT council.” The hike could only take place, if the HRD ministry approves the same, which is seemed to be unlikely according to ministry sources.