| Monday, June 16, 2008
Fee doubling draws students’ ire
The fee increase for management quota seats may have been recommended
by a panel, but students do not find merit in it
The fees for management quota seats in self-financing colleges
has been nearly doubled for the current year. But the Balasubramaniam
Fee Committee Report that suggested this fee hike has come under
fire from many quarters.
According to the new regulations, the fees for government quota
seats will remain unchanged while the fees for management quota
seats will be hiked from Rs. 32,500 per year to Rs. 62,500.
This will affect 35 per cent of the seats in the state according
to the ratio worked out by the government.
Political parties have severely criticised the move for bringing
an additional burden on students. Since self-financing colleges
constitute more than 80 per cent of the engineering education
system in the state, this move will clearly affect a significant
number of students.
On the other hand,the Consortium of Self-Financing Professional,
Arts and Science Colleges chairman Jeppiaar argued at a hurriedly
called press meeting that the fee hike was not sufficient. The
point being raised is that self-financing colleges need more
funds to manage their infrastructure and impart quality education.
But with the current fee structure itself, some students say
that the actual fees they pay far exceeds the prescribed amount.
With books, transport, lab fees etc. the fees at a reputed city
college comes to around Rs. 80,000 per year, a student says.
With the current hike, parents will have to pay more than Rs.
1 lakh per year.
However, some students say this is not the full story as some
colleges charge much more for seats under the management quota
and collect the extra money in cash. Capitation fees may have
been banned but some kind of ’donation’ is doing
the rounds, students say. The current fee hike will add further
to the bill parents will have to foot as some students may have
to shell out quite a few lakhs for their BE degrees.
Ma Foi Management Consultants Chairman Pandia Rajan noted in
a recent seminar that payments in cash in the hope of a quick
seat was becoming very common among parents trying to get their
children an engineering degree.This has resulted in engineering
education becoming good business for some colleges, he says.
The current hike works out to Rs. 1.2 lakh over a 4 year course
which might be affordable to many middle-class and upper middle-class
families with access to loans. With cash payments reportedly
in the range of a few lakhs in some cases, thishike might not
even really matter.
But some sections of society will be directly ruled out of contention
for management quota seats with the fee hike.With about 15 per
cent of the 1.1 lakh seats left unfilled last year, and a greater
number of seats (about 1.3 lakh) on offer this year, the hike
might actually rebound on the engineering colleges.
Courtesy: The Hindu - Education Plus
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