IITs decided for 80% fee hike

IITs are all set for 80% fee hike. The decision to hike fees for undergraduate courses from Rs 50,000 to Rs 90,000 annually will be taken at an IIT Council meeting in few days.

It will be second fee hike in last five years with 100% hike in 2008-09, when the fees were doubled from Rs 25,000 to Rs 50,000 annually. The increase has been recommended by the IIT standing committee last November.

A government panel has recommended an increase in tuition fee for IIT students from an annual Rs 50,000 to Rs 2 lakh-2.5 lakh per year to help the premier schools improve their standards. At the B. Tech level, the IITs admit around 10,000 students every year after a national-level JEE that is taken by around 500,000 aspirants annually.

HRD ministry officials said the revision was overdue and was required to bring the IIT fee structure on a par with other top central government institutions like the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs), which charge at least three times the fee of the IITs. Even second-rung deemed universities have fee structures ranging from Rs 1.2 lakh to Rs 2 lakh annually. The IITs, on the other hand, continue to charge Rs 50,000 for an intensive course.