An I.I.T. student asks: is it really justified to hike fee at I.I.T. ?

By Arpit Gupta

Being the student of Indian Institute of Technology(IIT) is a dream for most of the Indian youths who pursue education in science stream. Only a few thousands get selected and others have to accept the harsh reality of failure. After qualifying the JEE ADVANCED and getting accepted to an IIT, guardians think that their son/daughter will now be able to study on a nominal fee as he/she is in the most prestigious institute of India. The recent decision of fee hike at IITs has left those guardians disappointed. The question trending at the surface of the social media and in people's mind is "whether this amount of fee is justifiable"?

I am a student of IIT and I know that we get the best possible facilities for everything we need. We are given every type of opportunity and exposure which is required to develop the skills for being a "near to perfect" engineering graduate. Every section of society has its representatives in IITs which helps in recognition of different cultures among the students. If we analyse the situation practically, we can easily say under these circumstances that the fee is totally justifiable. The recent fee hike of 122% i. e. from Rs. 90,000 per annum to 2 lacs per annum is a good decision from the perspective of an expert. But then we forget that all(or most) of the students in IITs are from middle class and lower class. There has been a full fee waiver for students with parental income less than 1 lac per annum but the students with parental income between 1 to 5lacs will have to pay rs.67000 which is going to be a harsh situation for them.

When the analysis of an IITian's life is done, the results are probably a bit surprising for the people outside the IIT campus. People think, it's a well settled life with no any problem at all. For instance, I have a friend whose father is a salesman. His income is Rs.10,000 per month. He sold his farm/field and sent my friend to coaching so that he can get a secure and bright career. Now, if such a guy is to pay the fee of 67,000(one-third of the actual fee), Is it possible? Obviously, the loan from bank is possible but it's not comfortable for everyone to get loans.

Probably, the fee hike will not affect the name and fame of IIT. IIT will continue to be considered to be equal to "Harvard+Stanford+MIT" but it is going to affect the proportion of middle class students in IIT. A senior professor from IIT during an informal interaction, accepted the fact that the government has done wrong to the country only. If a guy enters in the IIT by taking loan, his whole sole motto will be to earn money because he would have already experienced the crisis of money. The guy will look for a good placement and will join foreign MNCs. This is going to harm India only. The economists and experts of HRD ministry have probably not thought about this aspect of the decision taken by them.

IIT is a place to explore skills and develop the personality. It's the dream of a typical Indian youth who studies science. I know, the fee which is being taken, is again not the actual expenditure on the IITians. It's much less but considering people's emotions and the level of IIT in the world, government must rethink this decision in regards to the welfare of India and Indian people.

Arpit is an undergraduate student pursuing Mechanical Engineering at IIT-Roorkee. His twitter handle is: @Arpit2476667