IIM fee hike: Will poor students be left cold?

By Sumit Pande/CNBC-TV18

Inflation it seems is now being dragged into the controversial fee hike at IIMs. After the IIM s' decision to increase fees, IITs too have proposed a hike. Now, Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh said the IIMs decision to hike fees is not totally unwarranted.

It is clearly a balancing act. The 11th Plan clearly states that the higher education fee structure has to be revised. So, this was very much in the offing. But at the same time it is also talking about the common man.

Today evening Vijaypat Singhania would be meeting Arjun Singh at his residence to talk about it. But Singh said the move is not totally unwarranted. His only concern is about the poor students.

Union HRD Minister Arjun Singh said, "The benefits that should go to the weaker sections, the poorer students. I just want to know how that will be done."

The IIMs have also thought about poor students and arrangements have been made for poor students if they cannot afford these fees. When the 11th Plan talks about hiking the fee structure, it also talked about providing educational loans at concessional rates.

This large scheme would cost the government Rs 5,000 crore over the next five years. But that scheme is going to materialise possibly in 2-3 years. It is still in the pipeline.

So, in the interim period what are the plans? If the fee hike happens now, in the interim period, how are poor students going to be compensated? That is one of the concerns of the HRD Ministry. But for a change Singh is not confronting the IIMs and the IITs on the fee hike.

The HRD Minister said things over the past few years have become much costlier. If you look at the fee structure, most universities or higher education institutions in the public domain get around 20-30% of the money as fees. The remainder is paid by the government. So, it is a huge loss and something had to be done about it. This was spelt out very clearly in the 11th Five Year Plan.