Patiala: Punjabi University Patiala has decided to partially roll back its recent fee hike to ease the financial burden on students, vice-chancellor Jagdeep Singh said.
Saying that the decision was taken in view of the socio-economic background of a large section of the student community, he explained that the university had been facing financial strain for a long time. Like other varsities, Punjabi University also needed to generate additional resources to support academic and research activities, he said.
The vice-chancellor also maintained that the limited revision in tuition and hostel fees was made after nearly five years, and the increase was significantly lower than the cumulative inflation and Consumer Price Index growth over the same period.
Before revising hostel fees, the university conducted a comparative study of charges at two other state universities in the region, Panjab University, Chandigarh, and Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar. The study indicated that even after the proposed revision, the hostel fee at Punjabi University remained considerably lower than those of both universities, the V-C said.
After the partial rollback, Vice-Chancellor Jagdeep Singh said the effective fee increase now stood at approximately 7.5%.
