The Mumbai University (MU) on Thursday cut its exam fees and also changed the structure to benefit repeater students. The new fee structure will come into force from the first semester exams in the 2017-18 academic year.
Undergraduate students, who at present have to pay ₹1,000 for all subjects together, will now have to pay ₹900 — a 10% cut. The exam fees for postgraduate students have also been reduced by 10%, from ₹1,500 for all papers to ₹1,350. These charges will apply to fresh students, and others appearing for more than three papers.
Sharp decrease
Repeaters, however, will benefit from a fee cut of 60 to 80%. Students appearing for just one paper will have to pay only ₹200 per subject for undergraduate exams, and ₹400 per subject for postgraduate exams. Undergraduate students appearing for just two papers will have to pay ₹400, while postgraduate students will have to pay ₹700 for two papers.
“This is a big relief for repeater students, who currently have to shell out ₹1,000 even to appear for a single paper. The exam fees were increased in 2016-17, and are now being reduced within a year,” a university official said.
The decision to cut exam fees were taken based on recommendations made by the Board of Deans, which were approved by the Academic and Management councils. The councils have also recommended fee hikes every five years.
Not much to cheer
Second-year law student Siddharth Ingle, however, feels the fee reduction is nothing to celebrate about, especially for fresh students. “I remember paying exam fees of ₹500 a couple of semesters ago for all my papers. Then the exam fees was randomly increased to ₹1,050 last year. Even now, since I have four papers, I will have to pay ₹900 instead of ₹1,000, which is just a marginal cut.”
He also complained that last month, he had to shell out ₹500 as late fee for just a day’s delay.
Akash Vedak, who recently appeared for his graduation exams, said that any cut in exam fees is welcome. “But this is just to distract students from the main problems of errors in assessments and missing answer sheets, for which students ought to be compensated. Let them charge reasonably for exams. But if they collect money from us and pay it to companies like MertiTrac, it is not fair,” he said.
Sachin Pawar of the Students Law Council, said the fee cut is hogwash, given that the university has cut concessions given to students from economically backward classes and reserved category.
“Where a reserved category student had to pay ₹60 as course fees, now he has to pay ₹4,500 for graduation and ₹15,000 for a Masters in Law,” Mr. Pawar said.
