How India Made IITs, IIMs & IISc Unaffordable?

India’s premier public institutions were built on a powerful promise: talent—not family income—should decide who gets to study. But what happens when public institutions begin charging private-institution prices? For fourteen years, the undergraduate fee at IISc remained ₹10,000 per year. Then, in a single 2026 notice, it increased to ₹80,000—an eightfold jump. This is not merely a story about IISc. Across IITs, IIMs, IISERs, NID, NIFT, central universities and national law universities, fees have risen dramatically while scholarships and government support have weakened. In this video, we follow the money and examine: • How HEFA replaced government grants with institutional loans • Why universities are being pressured to recover costs from students • How “financial autonomy” can lead to commercialisation • Why fee waivers fail the lower-middle-income “missing middle” • Whether education should be treated as a public investment or a recoverable cost Because a public institution that only the wealthy can afford is no longer truly public. CHAPTERS 00:00 The IISc Fee Hike That Exposed a Pattern 01:20 What Public Education Was Supposed to Be 02:37 A Decade of Fee Hikes Across India 05:55 The Policy Shift: From Grants to HEFA Loans 08:30 “Autonomy” and Enforced Commercialisation 10:04 Who Actually Pays? The Missing Middle 12:19 Examining the Government’s Counterarguments 13:59 Education: Investment or Cost Recovery? This video is a policy case study based on publicly available institutional notices, parliamentary replies, government reviews, budget documents and reported student experiences. Share this video with a student or parent who is preparing to pay one of these bills. For details about the XandY Foundation Programme for Classes 6–10: https://www.unlearnwithajmal.com/xand... Follow me on Instagram:   / unlearn_with_ajmal   Subscribe to Unlearn With Ajmal:    / @unlearnwithajmal   #HigherEducation #IISc #EducationInIndia