Now Reading: FAST Under Heavy Fire After Massive Fee Hike (Rector Tries To Justify It!)
Recently, the government has urged the educational institutions to alter their fee structures, taking in to account the ongoing economical downfall. Instead of following through with this to facilitate the students, it looks like the institutions – mainly universities – have other plans. Unsurprisingly, these plans involve taking advantage of these conditions and raking in as much money as they can.
FAST’s New Fee Structure
The varsity has released a notice which reveals that for all bachelor programs in all the campuses, the newly increased tuition fee is 9500 rupees. This jump was made in a span of only one year, from Rs. 7500/hr in last year to Rs. 9500/hr now.
To paint the entire picture, this new fee would stack up to 1 lac 71k rupees to be paid per semester. This, too, would be without the first semester’s admission fee. This means that the total sum for the first semester would be a whopping 2 lac 11 thousand rupees after adding the admission fee and the security deposit. The Masters & PhD programs got increased to 9000 rupees per credit hour as well.
On being asked on this increase, the university’s Rector – Ayub Alvi – tried to justify this increase. He said that the reason for the increase is that the university’s expenses are going up and that the university has ‘lost’ its income this year. Here’s what justification he gave:
Social Media Backlash
It seems that FAST paid no heed to the backlash that LUMS received when they announced an increase in their tuition fee (Read about it here). The massive social media backlash soon followed the announcement made by the authorities of FAST to increase the fee, rightfully so too. Using the hashtags “#FASTFeeHike” and “NoClassesNoFee”, students demanded that their voices be heard and they be given their due rights.
Our parents are not business man or beurocrates that can afford our fee in this current country economical problems.
#NoClassesNoFee pic.twitter.com/mBxFwPfcOh— Shanza Jamil (@ShanzajamilPTI) June 7, 2020
Students have also threatened to not participate in the university’s final online exam if this decision is not reverted.
@ImranKhanPTI@ImranRiazKhan @Kashifabbasiary#NoClassesNoFee #FASTFeeHike pic.twitter.com/8xreOGPnKM
— Muhammad Salman Ali (@salloprince110) June 7, 2020
One other student pointed out how FAST is blatantly going against the law, considering that they have explicitly ordered to provide relief to the students.
FAST management has to realize that they are contemplating the law!! They are going against the state as STATE has clearly ordered us to reduce the FEES!!
Link : https://t.co/rdhaTH0R79#FASTFeeHike @Shafqat_Mahmood @ImranKhanPTI @ZakaWaqar @FAST_NUCES @hecpkofficial pic.twitter.com/nrLD66ZAPC— Syed Aarim (@Aarim07) June 7, 2020
A petition has also been made to reduce the online semester fee rather than increasing it. It currently stands at over 3000+ signatures. You can sign it here.
Its a shame to see that an institution that claims to be non-profit is stooping to such levels. Not only are they overburdening their students, they are also breaking the law. Hopefully, the governmental authorities will take notice of this and FAST will revert their decision.
Read also: Police Officer Suffering From Cancer Was Dismissed Just Before His Death
All people are requested to register fees complain at PM portal app by downloading it.