Question : USER FEE IN HIGHER EDUCATION

(a) whether the Government proposes to impose a user fee while increasing the number of institutions in higher education;

(b) if so, the details and the rationale for imposing the user fees;

(c) whether the Government intends to give up the idea of imposing the user fees; and

(d) if so, the details thereof?

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT (SMT. D. PURANDESWARI )

(a) to (d) : While the Government does not have any proposal to impose a “user fee”, the Planning Commission, in the XI Plan document, has, inter-alia, suggested that since most university students come from top 10% of the population by income levels, they would be able to pay fees amounting to 20% of the operating cost of general higher education. The fees for professional courses could be much higher. The fee levels should, therefore, be increased gradually in existing institutions but the new norms could be implemented in new institutions from the start. An additional cess of 1% on Central taxes is being levied with effect from the financial year 2007-08 to fund Secondary Education & Higher Education and for the expansion of capacity of the existing institutions.