New Delhi: The University Grants Commission (UGC) this week instructed all educational institutions to refund the full tuition fees of students who withdraw their undergraduate admission applications before 31 October.
In a second notification issued the same day, Monday, the higher education regulator asked all educational institutions to adjust the hostel/mess fees charged from students during the Covid-19 pandemic.
While the second notification aims to prevent “financial hardships being faced by parents”, the first was issued largely to address concerns over the delay in admissions for undergraduate courses.
On 12 July, the UGC had requested higher educational institutions to fix the last dates for their undergraduate admission process. The last date, the commission said, must be announced keeping in mind the declaration of Class 12 results by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE).
According to the UGC, this would provide students sufficient time to apply.
Admissions for undergraduate courses are expected to continue until October 2022 owing to a delay in a number of examinations, including the CUET (Common University Entrance Test), JEE Main, JEE Advance, etc.
The UGC directive means that students who have secured undergraduate admission in some institute can get it cancelled at no cost until October 2022, should they get admission in another institute or for any other reason.
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Notifications by UGC
One of the notifications issued Monday said that the UGC, “in order to avoid financial hardships being faced by parents”, has decided that “full refund of fees should be made by the higher educational institutions on account of all cancellations of admissions/migrations of students up to 31 October for the academic session 2022-2023 as a special case”.
“It is made clear that the entire fee, including all charges, should be refunded (i.e., there should be zero cancellation charges) on account of cancellations/migrations up to 31 October 2022. Thereafter, on cancellation/withdrawal of admissions up to 31 December 2022, the entire fee collected from a student should be refunded in full after deducting not more than Rs 1000 as processing fee,” the notification said.
The commission also requested all higher educational institutions to “ensure the compliance of the UGC directions in respect of refund of fee in view of Covid-19-pandemic-related factors”.
Meanwhile, the second notification issued by the UGC asked institutions to “adjust/refund” the mess and hostel charges paid by students during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Several references have been received from students stating that they did not use the hostel and mess services during the Covid-19 pandemic period yet the institutions are not adjusting/refunding the mess charges and hostel fees, already paid by them,” the notification said.
The commission requested all higher education institutions to “adjust and carry forward the mess charges and hostel fees to all students charged during the Covid-19 pandemic period”.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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