Goa Dental College students protest 800% fee hike

The Goa Dental College’s move to hike tuition fees by more than 800% for students who have already secured admission for various postgraduate courses has been met with outrage with students who have enrolled in the colleges questioning the “unreasonable, unjustified and arbitrary” hike as well as its timing.

The Goa Dental College, which is a government run institute has hiked fees from this year onwards by a whopping eight times with the per semester fees hiked from ₹12,000 to ₹1-lakh leaving the students aghast especially since it has been announced after the admission process is completed. At the time of admission and counselling the students were told that the fees would be as per the rates then in force.

“With the revised fees of Rupees 1-lakh per semester, it translates into a whopping 833.3% increase from the previous amount of fees charged for the respective courses and such a substantial increase that too after the students have taken admission is wholly arbitrary, unreasonable and unjustified,” the students, said in a letter to the Undersecretary (Health).

“The fee structure prevailing at the time of counselling showed that the fees per semester for the Post Graduate students would be Rs.12,000. The students at no point of time were intimated or given any notice of any increase in the tuition fees even at the time of seeking admission,” the students have said.

The students have said that they were especially concerned about the timing of the fee hike which comes during a year of a pandemic when many families are struggling to manage with lower income levels as well as because it comes after they have applied for the courses which they did keeping in mind the cost of the course.

“This increase in the fees without prior notice is not only arbitrary and unreasonable but is also totally unfair for the students who have spent years preparing for the NEET Entrance Exam and taken admission after careful planning of their finances keeping in mind the fee structure prevailing at the time of counselling,” the students have said.

Officials of the Goa Health Department have said that the course fees were hiked based on a proposal they received from the College and granted their consent to hike.