Government plans interest-free loans before likely fee hike

NEW DELHI: The government is exploring ways to provide interest-free loans to underprivileged students at the IITS and NITS to cushion them for a steep fee hike that’s likely to be implemented soon at the premier engineering colleges.

Studentsatthenationalinstitutes of Technology (NITS) will see their annual fee almost double, from ₹70,000to₹1.25lakh,whilethecentre has set up a committee to weigh a proposal of the IITS’ top decisionmaking body to nearly triple the fee,from₹90,000peryearto₹2.5lakh.

The argument behind the hike is that the government should only take care of planned expenditure on labs, equipment, library and the running cost of staff salary, housekeeping, water and electricity should be borne by students.

“Since the hike is going to be steep the government wants to ensure those who require education loans do not face any problems,” said an official. “Setting up of helpdesks at all engineering colleges and doing away with the interest on loans could be a possibility.”

Providing loans on easier terms, the government believes, will blunt the steep hike and ensure fewer students default on repayments.

The nearly four dozen IITS and NITS heavily subsidise the education of their students, with the government bearing a major slice of the running expenses.

A committee headed by scientist Anil Kakodkar had suggested raising the IIT fee to ₹2.25 lakh a year to close the gap between what the IITS charge and spend per student.

The government, officials said, will also have to rework the limit for collateral security a student will have to provide following the hike with the total fee for four-year courses at the NITS and IITS reaching₹4lakhand₹10lakhrespectively.

Even after the proposed fee hike comes into effect, the IITS will remain cheaper than most top engineering colleges around the world. (see graphic)

An IIT spends ₹3.5 lakh every year on a student who only pays the institute ₹90,000.