New Delhi: “From AMU to Jamia, No NEP, No Fee Hike!” These slogans echoed in the halls of Jamia Millia Islamia on the eve of August 13 as students rallied in support of the protests at Aligarh Muslim University (AMU).
All India Students’ Association (AISA), along with several student organisations and Jamia students, marched in solidarity, starting from the central canteen and to gate number 7 of the campus. At the heart of the protests is a steep increase in annual fees at AMU, which students say will lock out large sections of the economically weaker and marginalised communities from higher education.
Although after a 10-day-long agitation, AMU announced a series of rollbacks and concessions, following a meeting on August 18, the agitation escalated the next day, August 19, as students marched to the district collectorate and burnt an effigy of vice-chancellor Naima Khatoon.
How is started
The tensions had been simmering across universities since August 8, when a demonstration at AMU turned violent after Friday prayers. “I saw students being dragged away and beaten – something I had never seen before,” recalls Areeba (name changed to protect identity), an undergrad Comparative English student at AMU.
“One student fell and was beaten with sticks. In the chaos, I even heard an officer shout, ‘Take the girls too.’ We weren’t on the road, just standing on the footpath.”
According to Areeba, police also issued threats to the protesting students: “They said, ‘We’ll make sure you don’t get admission anywhere, not even in private universities’.”
Despite the repression, students stood their ground. “The only reason we didn’t give up is the constant support from our batchmates, seniors, juniors, and even alumni. One alumnus told us that during his time, many students were suspended or jailed for protesting. When I think of people like Umar Khalid, I feel brave, because even if we face jail, at least it will be for the right cause,” she adds.
Following weeks of the agitation, in a significant relief, AMU finally announced a cap on the fee hikes between 2% and 10% after a student delegation met vice-chancellor Professor Naima Khatoon on August 18, pressing for a reversal of the hikes, which were initially between 36% and 42%.
The university also announced that the long-awaited AMU Students’ Union elections would be held in the first week of December.
‘Compromise formula’
In a video statement, AMU proctor Mohamad Waseem Ali said that the university had reached an understanding on a “new compromise formula” regarding the annual fees. Details of the revised fee structure, however, have not been officially disclosed. He confirmed the fee increase ranged Rs. 500 to Rs. 1,500 across courses, explaining that the hike was mainly to improve infrastructure and was a collective decision by various committees.
However, student groups and political leaders called this hike unjustified and exclusionary, warning that such measures disproportionately hurt underprivileged students.
What unfolded in AMU is not an isolated incident. From Delhi University to Jamia, nearly every public university has been confronting fee hikes, shrinking scholarships and the burden of the New Education Policy (NEP), which critics say prioritises privatisation over accessibility.
Students at Jamia Millia Islamia protest in solidarity with AMU students against NEP and fee hike. Photo: Instagram/@aisa_jamia
“Jamia’s own exorbitant fee hike, which has gone even up to a 90%, was highlighted in the protest with regard to courses such as B.Ed, M.Ed, D.E.I.Ed, B.F.A and several other programmes. While concluding the march, the commitment of spaces like Jamia and AMU as inclusive minority institutions and a space for the most marginalized students was reaffirmed and a resolve was taken to fight for these spaces along with the spirit of public education. AISA Jamia stands in Solidarity with the protesting students of Aligarh Muslim University! Accessible Education, Affordable Education Long Live!,” AISA Jamia stated in a social media post.
‘Turning education into commodity for sale’
In March this year, Jamia had unveiled a prospectus reflecting course-wise fee hikes between 16% and 41% across several departments – Persian (+41.41%) and Arabic (+37.15%) among the sharpest including courses like B.A. (H) Social Work (+147%), M.Sc. Environmental Science & Management (+95%), M.A. Early Childhood Development (+89%) followed by B.Ed. Nursery Education (+88%), M.A. Educational Planning & Administration (+84%).
Jyoti, a Ph.D scholar from Jamia, recalls,”UP Police had lathi-charged on protesting students at AMU, and this is shameful.”
She believes colleges should be open, safe spaces, and every child must have the right to education. “This is not just AMU’s fight – it is Jamia’s fight too,” she says, adding, “Under the NEP, there are finance courses with fees as high as Rs 1,54,000. Is this not turning education into a commodity for sale, a business rather than a right?”
Jamia Millia Islamia is increasingly leaning on self-financed (S/F) courses to keep its finances afloat. What this means for students is stark: programmes that once had a single “regular” fee slab now run parallel batches at two to three times the cost.
Take the case of M.Sc. Environmental Science & Management, for instance, where a regular seat costs Rs 31,250, while the S/F batch is priced at Rs 94,600. The pattern repeats across departments: A LL.M. degree that costs Rs 35,700 in regular mode jumps to Rs 1.29 lakh under S/F. The B.A. LL.B. (Hons.) course moves from Rs 89,250 to a staggering Rs 2.62 lakh.
Architecture and design students are hit even harder. B.Arch fees climb from Rs 96,625 (regular) to Rs 4.39 lakh under S/F. For M.Design, the shift is smaller but telling – Rs 2.07 lakh (regular) to Rs 2.29 lakh in S/F. In the fine arts, MFA Applied Art rises from Rs 33,500 to Rs 94,800, with an evening S/F batch pushing fees to Rs 1.84 lakh. Similarly, BFA Applied Art costs Rs 65,300 in regular mode but Rs 1.84 lakh in S/F.
Even professional tracks like MBA pharmaceutical management have hiked fees by nearly double, from Rs 1.04 lakh to Rs 2.14 lakh.
For many students, these numbers translate into tough choices that push them to take on loans, juggle part-time jobs or abandon a course altogether. What was once a publicly affordable degree is now turning into a privilege – priced almost like a private university but under the banner of a central one.
Niranjan, a law student at Jamia and active member of All India Revolutionary Students’ Organisation (AIRSO), through an instagram post highlights three new courses thst have been introduced in Jamia Millia Islamia and says “one common thing in the three: all three of them are ‘self-financed courses’.”
The course fees are Rs 20,000 for B.A (H) German and B.A (H) Japanese and Rs.85,000 for advanced diploma in Child Guidance and Counselling.
“See how, sale of education is going on. Education no more is a right, it is a commodity for sale under this corporate-fascist regime,” Niranjan adds.
Habeeba, a second-year B.A Persian student at Jamia and member of the Disha organisation, shares how fee hikes are reshaping campuses.
“At AMU, students who paid Rs 8,000 last semester are suddenly being asked for Rs 12,000 – with no prior notice. Despite suspension threats and even police action, protests have continued for over a week, drawing solidarity from doctors, lawyers, and school students alike. At Jamia too, fees across nearly every course – from diploma to master’s – have risen between 19% and 40% this year. Many of us feel that as universities turn to loans to cover costs, the financial burden is being shifted directly onto students.”
A similar trend at Delhi University
For the 2025-26 academic session at Delhi University, fees for some programs rose by over 20%, exceeding the university’s stated 10% annual cap. The University Development Fund (UDF) increase to Rs 1,500, combined with a 200% rise in university facilities and services charges and a 150% increase in the Economically Weaker Section Welfare Fund from 2022, has added significant costs.
Specific fees include Rs 8,087 for LLB/LLM, Rs 16,900 for commerce, Rs 21,901 for M.A social work, Rs 23,007 for MCA, and Rs 52,279-Rs 60,818 for MBA programmes. A new library consultation fee for external students, Rs 200 for one month, Rs 400 for three, with a 10% annual increase, has further fueled privatisation fears.
Approved by vice-chancellor Yogesh Singh using emergency powers on April 3, 2025, the hikes drew sharp criticism.
Abha Dev Habib, General Secretary of the Democratic Teachers’ Front and an associate professor of physics at Delhi University’s Miranda House, frames the stakes starkly: “Without grants for expansion, the expense has been shifted to students, affecting women and Dalits the worst. As the standard of education in public universities like DU, JNU and Jamia degrades, the elite will move to private universities.”
Meanwhile, Devender Yadav, Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee president, calls them “against the BJP’s promise of free education from KG to PG,” warning that the additional Rs 1,500 in UDF and service charges would hit marginalized students hardest, particularly girls.
“Parents don’t want to pay a high price for educating daughters,” he says.
Student groups like All India Students’ Association (AISA), Association of Students for Alternative Politics (ASAP), and Students’ Federation of India (SFI) protested demanding a fee rollback, centralised hostel allocation and proper implementation of Internal Complaints Committees.
“Education is a right, not a commodity,” ASAP declares.
‘Where is the development fund?’
The NEP’s funding model, reliant on loans from the Higher Education Financing Agency (HEFA), has fueled fears of privatisation. A proposed Rs 938.33 crore HEFA loan drew dissent from Rajpal Singh Pawar, an executive council member, who argued it would “shift the burden onto students’ fees and increase privatisation”.
DU Registrar Vikas Gupta countered that the government would cover 90% of the loan, with DU paying 10% over 10 years in 20 installments.
Habib challenges this: “What is 10% of 938 crore? Why should even 10% come at the cost of students? It should not come from student fees to save the public nature of this university.”
Asking for accountability, Delhi University Student Union (DUSU) President Ronak Khatri says, “The university is experiencing fee hikes continuously from the last four years, only under the name of the UDF, and in return, neither the students have access to clean drinking water, nor do the fans work in the classrooms. The benches and boards are old. So, where is the University’s development fund going?”
Meanwhile, DUSU secretary Mitravinda Karanwal says, “We have noticed in the Law Center and colleges like Daulat Ram College, fees have been hiked in a very unethical format against the mandate of 10%.”
“We have been on indefinite strike for the past six days with the participation of four to five thousand DU students,” she says, noting the efforts taken for students in their fight against fee hike.
However, the UDF’s fee hike from Rs 900 in 2022 to Rs 1,500 in 2025, alongside a proposed Rs 46.5 crore expenditure from the fund for new construction, has intensified concerns.
Critics argue that the UDF, built from student fees, should be reserved for emergencies and not infrastructure projects that could be funded by University Grants Commission (UGC) grants.
“If services, facilities, or infrastructure is being provided, it’s the responsibility and obligation of the university administration. This is not something that should come out of the pockets of students or their families.” Karanwal says.
For countless families, fee hike isn’t just a number; it is the breaking of fragile dreams built on sacrifices, such as parents taking extra shifts or cutting back on necessities. A majority of students in public universities come from modest financial backgrounds, where even a few thousand rupees can decide whether they continue their education or are forced to drop out.
Institutions like Jamia Millia Islamia, Delhi University and Aligarh Muslim University have been ladders of social mobility for decades. Today, students fear those ladders are being pulled away.