In a major move, the University Grants Commission (UGC) has asked universities to give full refund of fees to students who have withdrawn admission or migrated by November end. The UGC has also warned universities of punitive action over violation of fee refund norms.
In a letter issued to vice-chancellors, the higher education regulator has also asked institutions to refund the entire fee without deducting more than Rs 1,000, on withdrawal of admissions up to December 31, 2020.
The UGC letter says, “In order to avoid financial hardship being faced by the parents due to lockdown and related factors, full refund of fees be made on account of all cancellation of admissions/ migration of students, up to 30.11.2020, for this very session as a special case.” It further adds: “The entire fees including all charges be refunded in totality (zero cancellation charges) on account of cancellation/ migration up to 30.11.2020.”
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However, for students withdrawing admission after the end of November till December 31, the entire fee collected from a student should be refunded, after deduction of not more than Rs 1,000 as the processing fee. The commission has been receiving complaints about private or self-financing universities allegedly not refunding fees.
The notice says, “The Commission has taken a very serious view of such complaints. Most of these complaints have come from the students who have taken admission in private or self-financing universities and deemed to be universities and later opted out for one or the other reasons.”
