The Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) administration has doubled the institution's fee for prospective students set to join in the academic year 2020-21.

JNU has also incremented its one-time medical fee from a mere Rs 9 to Rs 1,000. These increases in fee come at a time when the institution is already embroiled in student protests against fee hike.

The fee for the MPhil and Ph.D. programs, which was Rs 295 per semester till this year, has been increased to Rs 780 per semester. In the same vein, the fee for undergraduate and postgraduate students has also been incremented from Rs 283 per semester in AY 2019-2020 to Rs 768 per semester AY 2020-21. GST is not included in these figures.

The JNU Student Union (JNUSU) has been fighting a case in the Delhi High Court over the hostel fee hike by the administration in 2019. JNUSU had taken the step of going to the courts after months of protests both in and outside the university. The Ministry of Human Resource Development was forced to intervene and hold meetings with the students to negotiate.

About the fee hike, JNUSU President Aishe Ghosh has said, "This will be fought again. The JNU community needs to unite to stop this." Till now, Dean of Admissions Deepak Gaur and Registrar Pramod Kumar have not made any statements regarding the fee hike.

JNU is not the only institution where the fee has been incremented in the last few years. The students of the Indian Insitute of Mass Communication (IIMC) have also been protesting against a fee hike that was announced last December.

Several IITs also protested against the 900% fee hike that was supposed to come into effect from November 26. In December, the government had put a hold on the fee hike in IITs.