Student Federation of India Opposes NTAs CUET PG Exam Application Fee Hike, Calls It Flimsy Logic

CUET PG 2024 Fee Hike: The Students’ Federation of India — an Indian left-wing student organisation has strongly voiced its opposition against the National Testing Agency’s recent move to raise the application fees for the upcoming Common University Entrance Test (CUET) PG examination.

CUET PG 2024 Fee Hike: The Students’ Federation of India — an Indian left-wing student organisation has strongly voiced its opposition against the National Testing Agency’s recent move to raise the application fees for the upcoming Common University Entrance Test (CUET) PG examination. As registrations for CUET PG 2024 have begun, the federation has stood firm in its objection to the increased fees.

In an official Facebook post, SFI Delhi expressed strong condemnation and opposition towards the fee hike in the CUET PG application form 2024.  “SFI Delhi condemns and opposes the fee hike of CUET PG application forms for 2024. The already high fees of CUET PG forms has increased by 200 rupees, totaling 1000/- for general category students, 800 for OBC and EWS students, 750 for SC ST and third gender students, and 700 for PwBD students,” reads the Facebook post.

CUET PG 2024 Fee Hike: How Much Does A Candidate Have to Pay Application Fee?

A candidate belonging to a General category must pay Rs ₹ 1200 to appear for up to two test papers. Meanwhile, if he/she wants to apply upto four test papers, then he/she should pay additional application fees of Rs. 600/- (General applicants). Similarly, a candidate belonging to an OBC-NCL/Gen-EWS category must pay Rs ₹ 1000 to appear for up to two test papers. However, if he/she(OBC-NCL/Gen-EWS/SC/ST/Third Gender/PwBD Applicants) must pay additional application fees of Rs. 500/- per Test Paper for PG Programmes. In other words, Going by the CUET PG 2024 information brochure, the testing agency has increased registration fees for all categories. Candidates belonging to the general category must pay Rs 6,00 for additional Test Papers (Per Test Paper) while those in the OBC-NCL/Gen-EWS category must pay Rs 500.

The SFI, representing student interests, voiced strong opposition to the CUET PG fee increase, labeling it as a hurdle to educational diversity and an unjust financial strain on students, especially those from marginalized communities. “The justification given for the fee hike by Vineet Joshi, head of NTA, is a flimsy logic suited for profit making corporations. The fee hike is to justify higher cost of operations. SFI strongly opposes this logic and calls it out for being another step that the government at large is taking towards the complete privatization of education,” the post further reads.

The Students’ Federation views the CUET PG fee hike as another move by the government toward the privatization of education.

Candidates who are desirous of applying for the exam may go through the Information Bulletin and apply online at https://pgcuet.samarth.ac.in only during the period from 26.12.2023 to 24.01.2024 and also pay the applicable fee, online, through the payment gateway using Debit/Credit Cards, Net Banking, UPI. For any queries or /clarifications, candidates can call NTA Help Desk at 011 4075 9000 or write to NTA at [email protected]. The list of participating universities is dynamic, the list of participating universities would be changing till the completion of the Registration process. Candidates are advised to regularly visit NTA website(s) www.nta.ac.in, https://pgcuet.samarth.ac.in for the latest updates regarding the examination.