Students selected for professional courses of the state technology university are struggling to pay their semester and admission fees, even in instalments, because of financial difficulties during the pandemic, a university official said on Saturday.

So, the Maulana Abul Kalam Azad University of Technology has extended the deadline for payment of the first instalment till September 4, the official said.

All private engineering and management colleges in the state are affiliated to the university.

Till last year a student had to pay Rs 32,000 in full for the BBA or the BCA course during admission. This year, students had to pay Rs 15,000 as the first instalment by August 26.

Last year, an MBA student had to pay Rs 35,000 in full during admission. This year, it was Rs 15,000 as the first instalment by August 26.

“This shows the financial constraints the students and their families are grappling with,” the official said.

“Considering the pandemic situation and the requests from different quarters, the university is pleased to announce that the admission process through CET-I (Common Entrance Test) & JEMAT-I (Management Aptitude Test) is being extended for another 10 more days,” according to a notice signed by the university’s registrar Partha Pratim Lahiri.

“The candidates informed the colleges about the financial constraints they have been facing in paying the first instalment. After the colleges requested us, we decided to extend the deadline,” Lahiri told Metro.

The remaining amount for every course has to be paid by October 15.

Many students have told colleges that earning members in their families have had their salaries slashed during the lockdown. Some have said their family members don’t have jobs anymore.

The Telegraph had on August 20 reported that an estimated 1.89 crore salaried people lost their jobs between April and July in the country. July had recorded huge job losses after a partial recovery in June.

The Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy Pvt Ltd has estimated that close to 1.77 crore salaried people lost their jobs in April immediately after the lockdown. Another 100,000 lost theirs in May.

The impact has been so severe that students are struggling to pay even in instalments, another university official said. “If they don’t clear the payments in time, colleges will struggle to pay their teachers. If this crisis continues we wonder if students would be able to pay the rest on time.”

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

A meeting of the NIT’s deans’ council has decided that 60 per cent of the tuition fees of Rs 62,500 has to be paid by September 30 and the rest by December 15.