KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 13 — Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) students living on campus will be charged slightly more for their room fees starting next month.
Vice-chancellor Prof Mohd Azraai Kassim said the increase in hostel fees will depend on the room types, but won’t be more than RM4 per semester.
“The charges imposed are RM2, RM3, and RM4 per day depending on the room type chosen by the student,” he said in a statement.
He said the university raised the hostel fees to cover maintenance and upgrading costs at the 60-year-old institution due to government allocation cuts of up to RM500 million since 2017.
“The university management is constantly upgrading its facilities in line with the students’ needs, especially in all 35 UiTM campuses nationwide.
“However, the university is aware that there are students who come from less fortunate families and therefore several groups of students would be exempted,” he added.
Those spared the higher hostel charges include students whose household income total less than RM2,500 a month with high dependents; are members of the student representative council or the student representative committee; are in uniformed bodies; athletes representing the country or recognised by the Youth and Sports Ministry; and are members of outstanding clubs or associations representing the country and have won international competitions.
Mohd Azraai said the varsity is actively engaged in continuous transformation and quality improvements of its teaching delivery through strategic initiatives in achieving it aspiration to become an international premier university
“The university management is appreciative of the public’s concern, especially from the, UiTM alumni, and we welcome any kind of support, feedback and suggestions for mutual benefit,” he said.
Mohd Azraai also said the university charged hostel fees for undergraduate students from December 2005, adding that it started looking into charges for diploma students in 2014.
Pekan MP Datuk Seri Najib Razak questioned the hostel fee increase for UiTM diploma students yesterday.
In a Facebook post, the ex-prime minister said rooms were previously free for the diploma students as payment was only RM20 a semester for utilities.
