Yielding to students’ weeks-long agitation, Punjabi University on Sunday announced a complete rollback of the fee hike for the 2026-27 academic session following a meeting with the protesting students.
“Student welfare and academic interests are the university’s highest priorities. Our fight was for affordable education and it will continue. Students had also raised concerns over the university’s financial condition, poor hostel facilities, shortage of hostel accommodation and delays in the payment of salaries to teaching staff.
Students had been protesting for 19 days since the university announced a major revision of its fee structure on August 12. They demanded that the Punjab government waive the university’s outstanding loan of around ₹ 150 crore, on which the university was reportedly paying nearly ₹ 14 crore annually in interest. it remains committed to ensuring that no eligible student is deprived of quality higher education due to financial hardship,” said Singh Although the university is currently facing serious financial challenges.
The university administration said it decided to withdraw the increase in tuition/course fees, registration fees and hostel fees, and retain the fee structure from the previous academic session. Punjabi University vice-chancellor Jagdeep Singh said keeping in view the university’s long-standing commitment to providing accessible and affordable higher education, the administration decided to completely roll back the proposed fee increase. Welcoming the decision, Gurdas, one of the student leaders spearheading the agitation, said, “This is a victory for students.
He maintained that the students will not call off their agitation until the university issued an official notification regarding the rollback.
