Schools shift from monthly to quarterly advanced fees starting session 2023-24

Before pandemic, schools in Delhi NCR and other metropolitans used to charge tuition fees quarterly and that generally had to be paid in first week of the quarter. However, during the initial period of pandemic, when schools had shifted from offline to online mode of teaching, they were offering opportunities to parents to pay fees monthly instead of quarterly. Come completion of a year (2022-23) of offline schooling , schools in Noida, Gurgaon, Faridabad and Greater Noida have now shifted back to asking parents for quarterly advanced payment of tuition fees.  This schools shift from monthly to quarterly advanced fees has been seen to be implemented starting the current session since April 2023.

In fact, during the initial days of pandemic, schools had been instructed not to hike fees. But from this session, schools have hiked fees by as much as 7% to 8.5% (data from Noida and Greater Noida schools). Along with this fee hike, schools have also started asking for fees on quarterly  basis and this payment has to be paid either in the  first week, first 15 days or a week before end of first month of the quarter. Many parents feel that along with the fee hike, this is additional burden to them as they have to arrange fees upfront for 3 months instead of 1 month. However, the schools have a completely different perspective to this.

Schools are finding it difficult to retain good teachers since the salaries had not been hiked for couple of years. Hence, the hikes were always due. As per a principal of a renowned school in Noida, they had difficult 2 years in ensuring the teachers are paid timely every month since there were many defaults from parents during the period. The teachers were themselves going through worst periods of life as much as parents. Some schools also had to resort to salary cut due to defaults and some parents even pulling out from school. Now that things have settled down, schools shift from monthly to quarterly advanced fees starting session 2023-24 looks logical.

What parents can do best in current situation is to request schools to give some more time for paying this quarterly fees. But, since schools have to pay teachers by end of month, that would mean that schools wont be able to allow time later than 21st of the first month of the quarter. Having said that, we are aware that in remote cases, schools do support struggling parents of bright students provided where all proofs are submitted highlighting the financial condition. But then, this was the case previous to pandemic as well.

Potential related Read- https://go4reviews.in/2018/07/know-rights-school-admissions-fees-refund/

Last Updated on May 3, 2023 by Go4Reviews