There is a grave and urgent issue pertaining to charging of unfair fees by private universities or institutes for current semester in time of Covid-19 pandemic, wherein the parents are finding it financially difficult and distressing to gather funds for depositing their children’s college fees. The lackadaisical and inconsiderate attitude adopted by the unaided universities/institutes has further made the parents and guardians economically vulnerable.

All the universities under the guise of online classes are demanding payment of full fees without taking into due consideration the change in circumstances.Full collection of fees is being done without application of mind and without giving due regard to the disproportionate impact the lockdown has had on the livelihood of families of the students.

As the pandemic has hit virtually whole of the Globe, various cities and countries as a whole has gone into complete lockdown resulting in job losses of our parents. As international students depends on their parents and Part-Time jobs for their tution fee and living, it has become virtually impossible due to ongoing Covid-19 situation to make arrangements for the tution fee by students.

The private universities and institutes were functional only for a limited period of time in the previous semester (1-2 months). After the issuance of lockdown orders by respective authorities the universities were closed and thus remained completely unused by students and for most of the time by faculties. They had to remain completely shut and unserviceable. However, despite these circumstances no reduction in expenses has been passed on to the students for which the fees were already collected.

Students across the State are in an extremely vulnerable situation inasmuch as universities and institutes are not only charging the full fees but are also threatening to levy penalty for late payment. It ought to be noted that the impact of the pandemic has been devastating across all sectors of the economy with several families finding it tough to make ends meet. Thus, in the time of this pandemic, it is incumbent on private universities to not exploit the already worsened situations of its students by utilizing their bargaining power in terms of charging unpayable fees.