IITs, IIMs, Central Universities Fee Hike; 37% Undergraduate IIT Students Avail Full Fee Waiver, 10% Receive 2/3rd Concession: Govt

The government has stepped into actions in response to inquiries about fee hikes in top institutions like Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs), and central universities as part of a Parliament inquiry. Even as they assured that some of the colleges have revised their fee structure, the government asserted there are different schemes of waivers and grants of financial aid provided to students from marginalized communities. According to official figures, fees for undergraduate courses in IITs were doubled in 2016 from ₹90,000 to ₹2 lakh a year, while fees for MBA courses at top IIMs have crossed more than ₹20 lakh.

For IIMs, the schemes of financial assistance vary in institutions. Most of the IIMs offer need-based tuition fee scholarship to students of the lower-income group and extra scholarships to meritorious students by the Ministry of Education and external funding agencies. Central universities offer meric-cum-means scholarships, SC/ST scholarships, and fee waivers to meritorious students. 

IIT Fee Hike Details

The Parliament response did admit that a few IITs have raised their fees in the last few years. The course fee of the undergraduate course was raised in 2016 from ₹90,000 to ₹2 lakh per year for general category students. SC, ST, and PwD students remain exempt from full fee concessions, while partial concessions are given to EWS students. Even M.Tech and PhD courses have witnessed time-to-time fee hikes amongst IITs.

In the same vein, IIMs have innovatively restructured their fees from time to time, and fees for flagship MBA programs in leading IIMs are now touching ₹20 lakh. Yet economically weaker sections of society get considerable financial assistance so that deserving students are not deprived of opportunities because of fiscal limitations.

Govt's Stand on Accessibility

The Ministry of Education reaffirmed that affordability and accessibility are issues of prime importance. It claimed that the top institutions are still providing different types of scholarships, interest-free loan facilities, and need-based finance to ensure that students from all socio-economic backgrounds can access quality higher education with no economic burden. The response of government is to balance fiscal sustainability of institutions with inclusivity to ensure that meritorious students can still get access to education in India's best institutions irrespective of occasional fee adjustments.