Candidates who have been selected for the professional courses such as bachelor of business administration (BBA), bachelor of computer application (BCA) or master of business management under the state technology university can pay their semester-cum-admission fee in instalments.

The Maulana Abul Kalam Azad University of Technology (MAKAUT), to which all private engineering and management colleges in Bengal are affiliated, has taken the decision keeping in mind financial hardships families are facing because of the Covid pandemic.

A student who till last year had to pay Rs 32,000 for the BBA or the BCA course during admission is required to pay Rs 15,000 by August 25, according to a notice issued by MAKAUT registrar Partha Pratim Lahiri. The rest has to be paid by October 15.

Till last year, a student of the master of business management programme was required to pay Rs 35,000 during admission. “This year, they can pay Rs 15,000 by August 25 and the rest by October 15,” said a university official.

The August 25 deadline for payment of the first installment is for those who can pay online. One can also pay offline on the Haringhata campus of the university or at the Salt Lake office on August 25, 26 and 27.

“Those having online payment related issues, can avail any of the places as per their convenience. The timings are from 11am to 1pm only as banking hours have been reduced to 2pm,” says the notice by the registrar.

“This facility (staggered payment of the semester-cum-admission fee) is being extended only to those who are facing fund crunch due to this COVID-19 pandemic and not to consider this gesture on part of the university as a general one,” reads the notice signed by registrar Lahiri.

He said that the university had received appeals from prospective students who have been selected through CET-1 (Common Entrance Test) and JEMAT (joint entrance management aptitude test) for a relaxation in payment of fees on the ground that they are facing financial constraints because of the pandemic.

“After going through the appeal, the university decided to introduce the mechanism of payment through instalments,” said Lahiri.

Many of the students who had appealed for relaxation have told the university that earning members in their families had a part of their salary reduced after the start of the lockdown. Some said their family members had lost jobs.

The National Institute of Technology, Durgapur, will let students pay tuition fees in instalments in the coming semester to give its students a relief amid the crisis.

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