The Panjab University Senate has recently approved the enhancement in fee structure of various courses being taught at University Campus and at its Regional Centres. The fee, so approved, is not applicable to the affiliated colleges of Panjab University, situated either in the State of Punjab or in U.T., Chandigarh.  While approving the revised fee structure for the year 2017-18, the Senate has approved adequate provisions to protect the interests of students belonging to economically weaker sections of the society.

The Courses being run on PU Campus can be broadly classified into three categories:

1. Traditional Courses in Humanities  and Honours Schools mode
2. Self Financing Professional Courses, as in  UIET, UILS etc.
3. Partially self Financing Courses in Emerging Areas of Social Sciences, Applied Management Sciences and Technology and interdisciplinary  areas in Science and Technology etc.

The Fee levels in Traditional courses are envisaged to be enhanced from existing two to three thousand per annum to ten to fifteen thousand  per annum for the new entrants who would enrol afresh from next academic year. It has been proposed that the new  students, whose parental income is up to 2.5 Lakhs per annum shall be entitled to 75% concession on the new fee. This would amount to almost no enhancement in fee for them from the existing fee levels. The students belonging to a family with income bracket between 2.5 to 5 Lakhs per year would be entitled to seek up to 50% fee concession.

The students enrolled in self financed professional courses, a provision exists to provide free ship to 5% of total number of seats to students belonging to EWS category. Such a provision would indeed continue. Tuition Fee concession is also available in PU system for those whose parents are not surviving or whose only mother is surviving and she is unable to support the expenses of her ward(s). Besides this, there is a scheme called 'Merit cum Merit based tuition fee support' with a (current) budget provision of 75 lakhs to provide fee concession to  needy applicants. This budget did not get fully utilised during the present academic year.

The fee levels of Self Financing courses professional courses has been enhanced such that inflationary pressure on them stands partially compensated, since the initiation of these courses between 2001 and 2008. The Fee levels of  partially self financing professional courses like those in Fashion Technology, Disaster Management, Police Administration, Hotel Management etc. have only been marginally enhanced.

The University has also proposed a new initiative of "earn while you learn" wherein certain jobs would be identified where the students can work on part time basis and fund their education.  In addition to this University has also agreed to facilitate loans from banks on soft interest rates to enable students to pay fees in the professional courses.  The Panjab University is taking all possible steps to protect the interests of students to ensure that meritorious students and students from economically weaker section  are not denied the opportunity of higher education in Panjab University only for want of funds.