The National Institute of Technology, Durgapur, will let students pay tuition fees in instalments in the coming semester.

Hostel and some other fees have been brought down considering the hardship students are facing during the pandemic, an institute official said.

The normal practice is paying the fees in full at the start of a semester. An exception has been made for the autumn semester, scheduled to start from September, the official said.

A meeting of the NIT’s Deans council decided that 60 per cent of the tuition fees of Rs 62,500 has to be paid by September 30. The remaining by December 15. Hostel and other fees can be paid by December 15.

The hostel fees of Rs 7,300 has been brought down to Rs 2,800 and that of the other fees of Rs 5,300 to Rs 2,850.

“The revised fees structure for the upcoming semester will be announced after the NIT’s board of governors approves it,” Anupam Basu, the institute director, said.

The revised structure is likely to be uploaded on the institute’s website next week.

“The pandemic has caused economic stress to families across the country… we are trying to give them as much relief as possible. Although the decisions will impact our internal revenue generation, we will allow payments in instalments,” director Basu said.

Basu, on lien from IIT Kharagpur, has been helming the institute since 2018. “We have reduced the hostel and other fees as well.”

A few students wrote to teachers, seeking relaxation in fees citing family hardship.

The hostel fees in each semester comprises, seat rent, electricity and water charges, hostel employees’ welfare fund, students’ aid fund, maintenance and development charge, an institute official said.

The other institute fees include library charge, computing charge, students’ health care, examination fee, students’ activity fund, and comprehensive insurance premium, including medical insurance. The fees under all heads have been reduced, he said.

The institute plans to start online classes in September and will offer its 350-odd students with connectivity issues the option of attending crash semester on the campus to make up for theory classes they might miss out.

“We will help those grappling with connectivity problems… similarly we are trying to help all amid the crisis with a revised fee structure,” another official said.

Several institutes have revised their fee structures during the pandemic.

Students of the Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology, Shibpur, will not have to pay the mess advance and water and electricity charges this semester.

IIT Kharagpur has waived mess fees and hostel overhead charges, along with some other charges.

In every instance, students have cited online classes as the reason behind their demand to reduce fees, another official of the Durgapur institute said.