Aviral Bhatnagar, an alumnus of IIT Bombay and the brains behind AJVC, a pre-seed venture capital firm, was taken aback upon discovering the exorbitant fees for Upper Kindergarten (UKG) education in Mumbai.
In a post on X, Bhatnagar mentioned that his cousin's daughter is currently attending a school that charges an annual fee of Rs 4 lakh, which is approximately half of what he spent for his entire four-year Bachelor of Technology programme at IIT Bombay.
"Cousin told me her daughter's UKG fees are crossing 4L/yr in Mumbai. My fees at IIT Bombay were half that for the entirety of the 4 years," he wrote in the post. "Education costs are the hidden inflation that no one is talking about. Perhaps AI tutors will make it affordable again." Bhatnagar said in post on X.
The update, posted on Wednesday, exploded in popularity across social platforms, amassing over 84,500 engagements within just one day. Numerous users replied to the update, with many drawing parallels between the fees and their own educational expenditures, emphasising the increasing costs associated with education.
Social media reacts
One X user said, "Schools were never meant to be profit-making enterprises that's why they are supposed to be run as non‑profit societies, but most parents have no idea this is the legal intent, so they suffer and pay huge fees.. Yes, 10–15 years ago fees were lower, but so were salaries, two decades back I was in a private school, and when they hiked fees sharply my family had to shift me to another one, and even then most kids around us still went to government schools."
"Now household incomes have risen a lot and parents actively seek out posh, 'luxury' schools, which pushes demand and prices up...meanwhile actualy salary of school teachers havent rose much..they still get paid lower than a third rate govt clerk. schools have clearly become too expensive because the sector is effectively unregulated, very similar to how corporate hospitals can charge anything for treatment."
"If the government does not step in, this will keep squeezing the middle class, or parents may simply start drifting towards alternatives like AI-enabled homeschooling, which could end up being a blessing in disguise”
Another user had an alternate perspective. They said people constantly want to spend more money if they earn more. “It's not education cost inflation but Lifestyle Inflation costs, your cousin is rich already he want to send to top nursery school... Once we get money we no longer settle for cheap..for example When I was in school buying from Mcdonald's was luxury because who is going to buy 240rs worth burger.. now once I started earning the espresso at decent cafe cost 280rs and i dont mind paying that much.”
“Schools charge fees based on how much parents make... If school owners know I earn 1 cr per annum they will charge me more.... Anyway homeschooling is best and cheapest way to educated your kids....do consider this option,” the X user said.
Another X user said, “At this rate the kid should come home with a pitch deck and a working app. This isn't just fee growth. it's status pricing. Parents aren't buying phonics. they're buying safety, signal, network, and peace from WhatsApp pressure. Land is costly. demand is emotional. brand sets the price. this isn't school inflation. it's pre-disruption.”
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