Students protest dormitory fee

BOGOR: The Student Executive Board (BEM) of the Bogor Agriculture Institute (IPB) has lodged a formal protest with the rectorate's plan to charge a monthly dormitory fee of Rp 125,000 for each of the 3,000 new students.

BEM chairman Atang Trismanto told The Jakarta Post that the board urged the rectorate to reduce the fee, or at least provide cross subsidies to the poor students. So far, each student pays Rp 75,000 per month.

Saefudin, a student of the oceanography and fishery department, said that, if the new fee is applied, it would make dormitory life more costly than living in boarding houses, which only charge between Rp 900,000 and Rp 1 million per year.

IPB spokesman Agus Lelana said that the fee for new students is Rp 120,000 per month. He added that selected new students, based on their best grades, are obligated to stay in the dormitory. -- JP