My college fee at IIIT was
mostly funded by IIIT in one way or the other. Hostel and food charges
were paid by my parents or me.
My parents were always willing to provide funds but I tried to be self-sufficient as much as possible.
In
general, research students in IIITH do not have to pay any college
fees. Their education is funded by the research projects. In fact they
get some payment (RAship) for the research projects they work on.
Research centres give this payment from their own funds which they
receive from funded projects that they do for govt., companies, or other
organizations.
In MS by Research, the college fee
is paid by the institute in 1st year for all the MS students. By the end
of the first year, students select their research areas and research
centres. From 2nd year onwards, the funds are generally paid by the
research centre from its own funds. My research centre/lab under Dr.
Govindrajulu was quite a barebone. I was the only student in the lab. It
had no funds. So, I was on my own. But I got scholarship money from
Microsoft, and TAship & RAship also. These helped me to pay the fee
while I was working under him. IT in Building Science lab to which I was
associated in multiple ways, was well funded.
Teacher Assistantship (TAship)
In
institutes like IIITH, professors are given many privileges. While
taking a course, they can select a few senior students who have already
taken that course. These students help the prof in correcting answer
sheets and assignments. They are called 'Teacher Assistants' (TAs). They
might even take one or two classes in some cases. (These TAs differ
from instructors. TAs generally do not teach. In some simpler courses,
like ITWS, the whole course is taught by students. Those are called
'instructors'.)
Research Assistantship (RAship)
RAship
is given to students who are working on research projects. Funds for
giving this payment come from the funded projects the research centre is
working on.
During those days, the
amount for TAship or RAship varied from Rs 1,500/month to Rs
10,000/month, depending on how much time the students were expected to
devote and availability of funds.
As TAship for compilers course, I was getting Rs 3000/month and it was about 2-5 hours per week of work if I recall correctly.
Initially,
when I was working under Dr. Vishal as part-time, I think I was getting
about Rs. 3-4k per month. In this, my involvement in terms of time was
more comparatively.
Later, when I worked under him
full-time, I was getting about Rs 6000/month as RAship. And he was
paying my college fee also from centre's funds. MS students did not get
more than Rs 6,000 as RAship (not sure if there were exceptions).
In fact, I even received RAship for my work under him in Manipal's 8th sem.
These amounts may seem small but they help students to be self sufficient. I tried to take minimally from parents.
I also visited Bangalore two times I think while on Nokia project. That was also mostly funded by the lab.
The college fee was not fixed. For every semester, it comprised of:
- Semester Registration Fee (Rs 10,000 per semester)
- Course Registration Fee (Rs 2,500 per credit)
- Fee for registration of Research Credits (Rs 2,500 per credit)
During the whole MSBR we had to register for at-least 24 course credits and 24 research credits.
There was no fee for audited courses. Those were completely free.
In each semester we registered for 8 or 12 course credits for research work.
So,
if in a semester I took three 4-credit courses & 12 research
credits, the college fee for that semester would be Rs 10,000 +
3*4*2,500 + 12*2,500. Total fee for that semester would be Rs 70,000.
Whosoever
funded me during the semester (institute or the research center), would
pay that amount at the time of start of the semester as college fee.
So, technically, MS By Research did have a fee but it had to be paid to
the institute through one or the other funds or in some cases by the
student himself in case no funding was available.
I finished registering for research credits in 4th semester. I paid no fee for this after that.
After
I converted MS to part-time, as per the norms, from then onwards I had
to pay the college fee myself. In each of these semesters, I had to pay
only Rs 10,000 for every semester (I was getting a good salary from
Crypsis). That was the semester registration fee. In later semesters,
the semester registration fee got increased to Rs 12,500 and during last
one or two semesters I paid Rs 15,000 per semester.
I
had already finished registration for all course and research credits
and had already paid for them so I had to pay no fee for them.
Here is the breakup of college fee for each semester. It is from my memory so it may have 3-4% inaccuracy.
Registration Fee for each semester was Rs 10,000. It got increased in later semesters.
And each course or research credit costed Rs 2,500
1st SEMESTER
Took 4 courses (16 credits)
Took no Research Credits
Total: Rs 10,000 + 16*2,500 = Rs 50,000 (Paid by the Institute)
I paid Rs 0
I was paid about Rs 3,000-4,000 per month as RAship by IT in Building Science
Note: I was also paid about Rs 4,000 per month for 8th semester Manipal project.
2nd SEMESTER
Took 3 courses (12 credits)
Took no Research Credits
Total: Rs 10,000 + 12*2,500 = Rs 40,000 (Paid by the Institute)
I paid Rs 0
I was paid about Rs 3,000-4,000 per month as RAship by IT in Building Science
3rd SEMESTER
Took 1 course (4 credits)
Took 12 Research credits
Total: Rs 10,000 + 4*2500 + 12*2,500 = Rs 50,000 (Paid by me from money received)
Received scholarship from Microsoft around this time
I was paid about Rs 3,000-4,000 per month as RAship by IT in Building Science
Received Rs 3,000 per month as TAship for Compilers Course
Note:
I think Research credits are for formality sake. I say this because
this degree is a research course and research starts from first semester
itself and continues till the end. We could take research credits in
any semester even if we continued to do the research later on.
4th SEMESTER
Took no courses
Took 8 Research credits
Total: Rs 10,000 + 8*2,500 = Rs 30,000 (Paid by me from money received previously)
I was paid about Rs 3,000-4,000 per month as RAship by IT in Building Science
5th SEMESTER
Took 1 course (4 credits)
8 Research Credits
Total: Rs 10,000 + 4*2500 + 8*2,500 = Rs 40,000 - Complete amount was paid by IT in Building Science
Additionally, I was paid about Rs 6,000 per month as RAship by IT in Building Science
6th to 8th SEMESTER (till I converted to partime)
Took no courses or research credits
Total: Rs 10,000 per Semester = Rs 10,000 * 3 = Rs 30,000 - Complete amount was paid by IT in Building Science
Additionally, I was paid about Rs 6,000 per month as RAship for this whole duration
I converted to part-time. As per the rules, I had to pay the fee myself from now on.
From the 9th Semester till I defended my thesis in 2015
Amount:
Rs 10,000*4 for 4 semesters
+ Rs 12,500*2 for 2 semesters
+ Rs 15,000*2 for 2 semesters
These
amounts, Rs 10,000, Rs 12,500, and Rs 15,000 are for the Semester
Registration fee. The fee used to change after every few semesters.
Paid by me from Salary at the beginning of every semester.
OTHER EXPENDITURE
When
in IIIT, I primarily ate in a student-run cooperative mess which was
run at no-profit-no-loss model. It was the most extra-ordinary mess. I
will talk about it later.
Hostel fee was normal, nothing extravagant.
Both, hostel and mess fee were paid by me. For this, I received funds from my father from time to time.
Also,
the amounts I received as RAship or in some other way were partially
used for paying this fee or for miscellaneous personal expenses.
Personal expenses included train tickets to Hisar. Other than that most
students had minimal personal expenses. We used to get everything in
IIITH at minimal prices. Life was simple. Really, except for the Ranchi
ashram, I do not miss any other place as much as IIIT.
