Dreams Derailed by Debt
The sprawling, manicured lawns of Al-Falah University in Faridabad were meant to be the launchpad for a thousand dreams. For students like Priya Sharma, a final-year MBA student, it was a promise of a corner office, a hefty paycheck, and a ticket to a better life for her middle-class family. Today, that dream feels like a distant, cruel joke. The only thing hefty is the ₹18 lakh education loan hanging over her head.
“My moratorium period ends in six months,” Priya says, her voice a mix of anxiety and exhaustion. “The placement cell keeps telling us to be patient, but the offers we’re seeing are a fraction of what was promised. My EMI will be nearly ₹25,000. The best offer I have right now is for a salary of ₹40,000 a month. How am I supposed to survive, let alone support my parents who invested their life savings into this?”
A Campus-Wide Crisis: From Placement Promises to ‘Plan B’
Priya’s story is not an isolated one. It is the grim reality for a vast majority of the graduating batch at Al-Falah, a prominent private university in the NCR region. Students from across the country, lured by glossy brochures promising world-class infrastructure and 100% placement assistance, are now facing a perfect storm: a sluggish job market, dwindling campus placements, and the crushing weight of education loans that run into double-digit lakhs.
The whispers in the canteen have turned from excited chatter about future prospects to hushed, desperate conversations about ‘Plan B’. For many, this means preparing for the worst.
“The worst? I’m already living it,” says Sameer Khan, an engineering student whose family mortgaged a piece of their agricultural land to fund his ₹15 lakh B.Tech degree. “I had a pre-placement offer from an IT startup. Two weeks ago, they deferred my joining date indefinitely, citing ‘market conditions’. I’m now applying for jobs at call centres. Is this what I spent four years and a fortune for?”
University Cites ‘Market Headwinds’, Students Feel Betrayed
The university administration, when contacted, pointed towards “unprecedented global macroeconomic headwinds” affecting the entire industry. A spokesperson for Al-Falah stated, “We are working tirelessly to connect our students with opportunities and have enhanced our career counselling services. The market is challenging for everyone.”
But for the students, these explanations feel like hollow corporate jargon. They feel a profound sense of betrayal. They argue that the curriculum often felt disconnected from current industry needs, leaving them ill-equipped for the skills-first hiring approach many companies have now adopted. The promised bridge to the corporate world seems to have collapsed, leaving them stranded on an island of debt.
The High-Stakes Gamble of Private Higher Education
The crisis highlights a deeper malaise in India’s higher education landscape. The proliferation of expensive private universities has created a high-stakes gamble for students and their families. The promise of a high return on investment is the primary driver, but when the job market falters, the entire model comes crashing down, burying a generation of bright, young minds under a mountain of financial and psychological stress.
As graduation day approaches, the mood at Al-Falah is far from celebratory. There is a palpable sense of fear. Students are secretly studying for government exams, considering gig work, or contemplating the humiliating prospect of returning to their hometowns empty-handed. They enrolled with aspirations of becoming corporate leaders and innovators. Now, many are just hoping to avoid defaulting on their first major financial commitment. They were told to shoot for the stars, but now, they’re just praying they don’t crash and burn.
