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I'm a second-year engineering student at Delhi Technological University (DTU) and I have been waiting for my scholarship money from the university that was approved five months ago.
I'm a resident of Northeast Delhi, and I joined DTU in November 2021. I come from a lower middle-class family, my father works at a private company and is the family's sole earner.
I applied for a scholarship, this year in January, two months after joining college, I received the approval in May, this year, but only on paper.
My family and I are financially and mentally frustrated now because even after the scholarship approval we're forced to pay the fee.
My college fee is Rs 2.5 lakh per annum and keeps increasing yearly. Most of the students here have taken loans to pay their fees. For four years, the fee is around Rs 10 lakh and my family just cannot afford it.
In my first year of college, my father took a personal loan of Rs 5 lakh to pay my college fees. There is a high rate of interest that comes with the loan but this was the only option we had, so we went ahead with it.
By my second year of college, I was expecting to receive my scholarship money but it did not come through. This time, we had to borrow money from our relatives to pay my college fee.
For a person like me, who can barely afford the metro fare every day, asking them to pay so much fees is unethical. I take the DTC bus every day, and travel 30 km to reach college. The college is well aware of my financial condition, and I have submitted every document that they asked for. Why is there a delay then?
The situation I'm currently in is extremely bad, I have to think 10 times before spending on travel or food.
My family is in huge debt. I have approached the scholarship department more than five to six times, and they always keep ignoring my question. There is no response, I have ever received from them.
The only thing, I get to hear from them is either the payment was failed or cancelled for some reason.
Once, I was told that there was some issue with my account, I gave the details again and again, and now it's the same response I always get which is that everything is under process.
I mailed various people for this, and I even filed an RTI, from which, I never really got a response. I only got a phone number that has never been answered.
The last year has been the most financially and mentally taxing year for my family. The scholarship approval was a silver lining for me, please don't take that away as my family and I just can't afford to pay so much fee.
The Quint has reached out to Delhi Technological University (DTU). Their response is awaited. Story would be updated once a response is received.
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