“I haven’t informed my parents about the same yet, because I know that would stress them out.”
“My name is Priya and I come from a typical middle-class family of four; a hardworking father, a loving mother and an affectionate brother. Things were going great for us all before this pandemic. My father had just got his promotion, my brother was studying hard to ace his Board examinations, and I, well I was living the college experience.
This pandemic was a knee-jerk to everyone, to some more than the others. Things worsened for us when my father along with many of his co-workers, lost his job. It was getting hard for us to pay food bills. We often had to cut back on our ration to survive another day. When all of our savings got exhausted, we had to use money from my college fees to meet our basic needs. Meanwhile, electricity bills and rent were piling up. Our mornings weren’t happy anymore, our days had become gloomy.
We took a sigh of relief in July when my father got his job back. I thought to myself, that maybe things will get better now. However, I didn’t know what was waiting for me. A text on our class WhatsApp group that said that informing us about the fee hike and the deadline is what did it for me.
I haven’t informed my parents about the same yet, because I know that would stress them out. How am I supposed to even talk to them about my college fees when they are worried about the possibility of us not having a roof above our head? My brother is about to start college this year as well. I don’t know how we are going to manage. All the bills, the rent, my brother’s college fees… this is too much. How will I be able to pay the fees in a single instalment? All the money that I had saved got used to buy food and pay the bills. We don’t know when this pandemic is going to end. Nobody knows. Everyone is struggling. Everyone is worried. Why the fee hike?
Between paying bills to meet our basic needs and education, I guess we will have no option but to go for the former. I think I might have to drop out.”
Many like Priya are now struggling to meet their basic needs, much less pay the college fees. It is an insensitive move by IPU to increase fees during such an unprecedented crisis. Instead of providing some relaxation to students, why the fee hike? How are we supposed to pay the fees in a single instalment amidst this pandemic when we are struggling to pay bills?
ALSO READ: GGSIPU Fee Hike: The Hike ‘Fee’ ver Reaches VIPS
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