ChintaBAR, an independent student collective from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras issued a statement condemning the institute’s decision to increase the fees for newly joined students of the institute’s programmes. 

In its statement dated May 21, posted on its social media handles, the collective alleges that there has been an arbitrary increase in fees for new MTech (Master of Technology), MS (Master of Science), and MA (Master of Arts) students who have joined the institute this year. 

According to the collective, the tuition fee for MTech has been increased from Rs 5,000 to Rs 25,000, MSc from Rs 3,000 to Rs 25,000, and MA from Rs 5,000 to Rs 20,000. 

“A comparison with the tuition fee of previous year shows an exorbitant increase of 400 per cent for MTech, 300 per cent for MA and 733 per cent for MSc,” the collective says. 

Students are also paying more fees at the time of joining than ever, says the collective. For instance, it illustrates that the total institute fees paid by students of MTech course at the joining, including deposit and the one-time fees, has increased from Rs 23,650 to Rs 61,500 – which is a 160 per cent hike. 

On the other hand, the collective alleges that the stipends for the Half-Time Teaching Assistantship (HTTA) for MTech students have remained stagnant at Rs 12,400 per month, and haven’t been increased in the last few months. Moreover, since last year, many students were admitted to MTech as non-HTTA category students and haven’t received stipends. 

This arbitrary decision will drastically limit entry to the institute for students from economically disadvantaged and marginalised backgrounds, making the institute exclusionary, the collective says. 

“We unequivocally condemn this decision and strongly demand that the administration revoke it immediately,” the collective declares, and urges the student body to speak out against this measure and “to protect their right to affordable education”.