Through a press statement, issued on April 3, IIM-A has said, "The (new fee) scheme charges the full costs of the programme to those who are capable of paying it, while providing assistance of about Rs. 8.5 crore per annum to those who may find it difficult to meet the costs. This ensures that education at IIMA is accessible to all deserving students, irrespective of their financial situation."
Sharing information about the per-students costing of the PGP programme, IIM-A said that actual costs per seat that the institute will incur be Rs 5.5 lakhs, which it proposes to raise from the revised fee. Said IIM-A, "In June 2007, the Board decided that the Institute should conduct a rigorous costing exercise with the help of independent experts to determine the true cost of the PGP. The Institute engaged the services of a nationally reputed cost accountant. Based on the actual costs for 2006-07, the cost inflation over 2007-08 and 2008-09 and the assessed increase in costs arising from the recommendations of the pay commission, the cost of the PGP for 2008-09 would be Rs. 5.5 lakh per student per year."
On March 29, IIM-A Board had "unanimously" decided to charge a fee of Rs. 5.50 lakh for the first year and a fee of Rs.6 lakh for the second year of the two year Post Graduate Programmes for the 2008-10 batch, said IIM-A. Giving details of the fee break up IIM A said, "Out of this amount, the tuition fee is Rs 4.5 lakhs and the rest are for books, cases, teaching material, stay, computer charges, library and other expenses. The Board also decided that the fee for the existing batch would remain unchanged at the earlier level."
Emphasising various sops for underprivileged candidates, IIM-A said, "The Board reiterated the commitment that no deserving student would be deprived of an opportunity to study at IIMA on account of lack of financial resources." The IIM A Board has announced to triple the annual family income limit from Rs.2 lakh to Rs.6 lakh for a student to be eligible for financial support.
To counter the massive fee hike, IIM-A announced several schemes of financial assistance. Under 'Tuition Fee Waiver Linked to Family Income' scheme, Institute has worked out a scheme whereby graded waiver of tuition fee will be provided to all students with annual family income of up to Rs. 6 lakh. The waiver is 100% for students with annual family income of up to Rs. 1 lakh; the waiver is about 82% for students with annual family income of Rs. 2 lakhs. Based on the income distribution of the students who qualified for admission after CAT last year, more than 65% of students would benefit from the proposed fee waiver scheme.
The estimated total fee waiver based on the same data would be over Rs. 7.50 crore per annum.
Then there is 'Need Based Scholarship' scheme. The Institute has budgeted Rs. 1 crore for 2008-09 to provide assistance for students have to incur expenses towards books, cases, teaching material, stay, computer, library, etc.
IIM-A also said that it would negotiate with leading banks for special loan packages to be provided to students who are admitted to the PGP on favourable terms.
Further, Institute would continue to implement the government scholarship scheme for SC/ST students.
Re-emphasising the substantial sops and assistance that IIM A is offing, IIM A said, "The scheme charges the full costs of the programme to those who are capable of paying it, while providing assistance to those who may find it difficult to meet the costs."
