Why should a student pay for resources they aren’t using?

The European Universities Changing Tuition Fees In Response To Coronavirus. There are 85 university reduced their fees. Countries like Poland, England, U.S.A, Russia, Netherlands, United Kingdom, Ireland, etc…

But in the case of India High court rejects the plea for charging only tuition fees

"Such petition deserve to be dismissed with costs, but we are not doing it now," the bench said while disposing of the plea filed through advocate Kush Sharma. During the brief hearing, the bench said that universities have to pay their professors and also set up the infrastructure for online classes and therefore, they cannot be directed to grant fee concessions.

The law student, in his plea, had sought directions from the Ministry of Education to the various universities and such institutions to give a break up of the fees being charged by them and to also grant concessions to parents on a case-to-case basis in the form of extension of time period to deposit the fees.

The petition had also sought framing of guidelines to ensure the varsities provide gadgets and fast internet connections, to those who cannot afford the same, so that all students have access to the online education or classes being held during the pandemic.

The petition had contended that due to the pandemic not only the country's GDP has shrunk but people employed in various sectors have lost their jobs or have faced reduction in salaries.

"Consequently, household income across all income groups has reduced considerably and people are facing severe cash crunch and financial burden. Owing to these circumstances, the parents of students pursuing undergraduate and postgraduate courses are finding it exceedingly difficult to pay the fees of their wards."

"This situation is more alarming in the case of parents of those students who are pursuing their education in educational institutions which are set up under private universities and deemed universities which charge fees at a huge premium," the petition had said.

Meanwhile Extra Fees, No Concessions more Than 90 Indian Colleges Are Facing Student Protests.

For several months, in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, colleges across India have shifted classes and other academic activities online. Classrooms are shut, water and electricity in colleges are no longer in use, libraries and laboratories are closed and hostels are only occupied by a handful of students who couldn’t go back home for some reason. More so, students are attending online classes using their own devices and internet services and many among those who come from underprivileged sections haven’t been able to do even that. In such a situation, colleges have asked students to pay the same fee which in itself is really high in private institutions as they were paying before.

According students, in some private colleges, the per semester fee ranges from Rs 1.6 lakh to Rs 1.8 lakh. Now, instead of reducing the fee, some colleges have further hiked the fee by 10-20%. Apart from the tuition fee, the old fee structure covers miscellaneous expenses for resources such library, laboratory, sports facilities, internet services etc – all of which are no longer in use. The situation is even more troublesome for international students who pay a higher fee in comparison to other students.

The quality of education, according to some students, has also severely deteriorated when it comes to online sessions. Most of them have had to rely on online study materials to understand the concepts being taught. The demand for a high fee when neither the quality of education is good nor the college resources are being put to use is “unfair and unjustified”, say students.

According to students, some colleges have also been “forcing” and “threatening” them to make the payment on time. Colleges allegedly say that they will not take classes or accept their registration forms for the next semester until the students pay the semester fee. The appeal letters sent to the university administration have been invariably unfruitful, students from various institutions have said.

While some institutions have agreed to let students pay the fee in instalments, the question remains: Why should a student pay for resources they aren’t using?