Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi has urged the Centre to extend income contingent loans to students so that they can cover their educational expenses without any hassles.
As per reports, IIT Delhi has suggested this move to the HRD ministry so that the students of the other IITs of the country can repay their educational loans after they start earning a suitable amount of money.
IIT Delhi suggested that the Centre should emulate the Higher Education Loan Programme (HELP) of Australia which lends the cost of educational fees to students and repayment of the loan begins once the student earns a suitable amount of money from his/her job.
The proposal stated that the Centre should consider setting up an agency similar to the Higher Education Loan Agency (HEFA) of Australia for directly funding students with full or partial tuition fee based on their needs and put in a process to recover as additional tax/cess once he/she gets employed
“It is important for IITs that our graduates do not always choose high-paying jobs but follow their passion in other fields, including research and public service. Very high loan as a burden eliminates career choices as can be seen even today from the IIM type loan based education,” the proposal further stated.
The suggestion has been given for more financial autonomy of the prestigious technical institutes in the country.