Jamia Millia Islamia has increased its fee for all courses by 10 per cent from this session onwards, a move that came as a major disappointment to students even as officials termed it as a "nominal" hike.
The students argued that increasing fee uniformly across courses doesn't make sense as the "amount of resources and consumables required aren't the same for all courses".
"Why should a group of students who don't use any equipment have to pay for their running cost and maintenance?" a student said on condition of anonymity.
Another student said, "Some of us come from very humble backgrounds and for such students, paying even the existing fee is difficult. We understand that Jamia isn't a profit-making institution but a 10 per cent fee hike is outrageous."
Calling it a marginal hike, varsity Vice-Chancellor Talat Ahmad told PTI, "The fee has been hiked after a gap of three years. It is a very reasonable hike. Still, if it is not affordable by some students we are working out a mechanism to address that too."
"We are striving to have a student aid fund, which will provide assistance to students on merit cum mean basis to ensure that no one is devoid of studies due to financial reasons," he said.
