Students protest Fee Hike***

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*** – Please note that this is an updated version of the original article that was posted on 23rd June.
On 22nd June, students of the institute organised a protest rally against the recently implemented hostel fee hike. The 10-hour long protest witnessed at least 100 students at the protest site at any given point of time, with about 700 signatures. Scheduled to begin at 9 AM, students gathered at Hostel 12, after which posters were distributed by members of Students Against Fee Hike – IITB. The march, which began at 9:30 AM, consisted of PhD students, along with a few undergraduates and some Master’s students. The students marched through the institute and reached the main building, where a sit-in was organized and slogans were raised. The students demanded an immediate rollback of the recent hike and assurances of a proper informed hike the next time around. They voiced their concerns over the sudden fee hike after a major hike in tuition fees last year, especially since this hike wasn’t discussed with the student community before being enforced.

The rally gained momentum in the evening at around 6 PM when the protesters started raising slogans near the Main Building and called out the Director and Dean of Student Affairs to step out and addressme.co.nz/ball-dresses.html”>dressme.co.nz/ball-dressme.co.nz/ball-dresses.html”>dresses.html”>dressme.co.nz/ball-dresses.html”>dress their concerns. With the security guards intermittently present, the protesters finally calmed down when the Director, Prof. Devang Khakhar arrived and addressme.co.nz/ball-dresses.html”>dressme.co.nz/ball-dressme.co.nz/ball-dresses.html”>dresses.html”>dressme.co.nz/ball-dresses.html”>dressed the gathered crowd.

“The reality is that all of us live in a very expensive campus. The education is hugely subsidized at IIT Bombay but for the living expenses, this subsidy is going to be cut as the cost of living is increasing on all the fronts. I agree that there should be absolute transparency for which we’d be soon producing a white paper explaining the costs that are being covered through the student fees and thereafter we’ll have an Open House where we can have a sensible and detailed discussion about the numbers. We certainly don’t want to unduly burden the students with financially worries because we, not just expect excellent academic work from you but also that you understand the realities. I’ll soon revert to the mail from student representatives with the dates.”

Dissatisfied with Director’s answer, the students demanded concrete dates for the Open House with some significant window before the deadline for the payment of fees. When the director asserted that this was not possible, the students demanded a suspension of the fee portal temporarily or to postpone the deadline by a week or two. The Director declared that any such an extension of the deadline is not possible because he believes that even if the fees got reduced after the negotiation, it would be a slight change and surely won’t be back to what it was earlier.

Concluding, the Director said, “Costs are rising and naturally you should expect to pay more. We’ll surely tell what you’re paying for, so that you don’t feel that we are unnecessarily extracting money from you. I don’t want to make any false promises and I agree that you’re concerned about this issue, hence I am happy to negotiate but the deadline won’t be extended. You’re not all the students. Those who can pay, should pay; those who are facing financial difficulties we’ll make special provisions for you. The Board of Governors decides the fees and that remains fixed until the next board meet. As I said there’s not going to be a major change in the fee, but we can see to what extent it can be reduced.”

After he left, the students had a 2-hour long meet where they discussed steps to be taken regarding the issue. Post the meeting, one of the representatives concluded, “The administration has had a very long time to complete their homework. We feel that an Open House won’t amount to much. Now that the deadline is approaching, we have no other option than to intensify the protest till a meaningful discussion with students against this fee hike begins. We’re waiting for the Director’s reply till Tuesday.”

As of Tuesday (27th June 2017) there hasn’t been any update from the administration. We were informed by the group that they are awaiting a response till Friday.

The protest has been called off until there is an official reply from the Director.

Facts of the matter:
The exact changes in each of the fee(s) across all the batches, programmes and categories are as follows:
For UG/M.Tech./M.Phil./M.Des./M.Tech.+Ph.D. (Direct Admission) students:
[table id=6 /]

*Applicable only to people opting for hostel.
$The Tuition Fee will vary across the batches, programmes and categories accordingly which remains unchanged.
#Tuition fees will also be charged in addition to these fees according to the student’s batch, programme and category.

SAIF (Student Accident Insurance Fund) is introduced of INR 200 which was initially charged as the ‘Annual Insurance’ of INR 126 only at the start of the academic year i.e. in the fees of Autumn Semester.
For Ph.D. Scholars:
[table id=7 /]

*Applicable only to people opting for hostel.

One noteworthy change is the decrement in the ‘Tuition Fees’ of Ph.D. students belonging to Group 1 of General and OBC categories from INR 5,000 to INR 2,500. Excluding this, there is no change in the ‘Tuition Fees’ of any other programme.

Another significant change is in the ‘Semester Mess Advance’ that has been increased from INR 15,000 to INR 20,000.
[table id=8 /]

For PGs:
[table id=9 /]

For UGs:
[table id=10 /]