HYDERABAD: The newly-formed Telangana Admissions and Fee Regulatory Committee (TAFRC) has decided to offer a 20% fee hike for colleges that charge less than `50,000 per year and a raise of 15% for those that charge more than `50,000.
Though the hike is subject to change once the committee processes the audit reports that the colleges submitted to substantiate their fee-raise amount — which, for some, is as high as 200% — there is little respite for students or even the colleges themselves.
The decision was communicated to private unaided colleges during a meeting in Khairatabad on Saturday.
It is understood that while 80 per cent of colleges have agreed to the proposal, the rest are likely to knock at the door of the court once again.
“Unless the fee is fixed and displayed on the website, exercising web options by students for EAMCET 2019 is not possible. Any further delay is not advisable as it would drive students to seek admiss-ion in deemed universities. So, in the interest of students, most colleges decided to go ahead with the proposed formula of the TAFRC,” said Goutham Rao, State Engineering Colleges Management Association.
Prof T Papi Reddy, chairman of the Telangana State Council of Higher Education (TSCHE) and member of the Committee, added that the proposed plan is only “a temporary solution” and the final fee will be fixed in a couple of months. “To avoid any confusion to students, we will be displaying this inform-ation on our website, and once the fee is fixed by the TAFRC, they will have to pay the differential amount,” he said.
Further, colleges will be asked to receive an undertaking from students at the time of admission, stating that they will pay the hiked fee.
Private college managements, however, are not convinced about the efficacy of the proposal. A college that charges `1.13 lakh in the last block period will now be eligible to charge `1.45-1.50 lakh after the 15 per cent hike. This, however, may change drastically if after going through the audit reports the TAFRC gives a go-ahead to colleges to fix fees as per their proposal.
For example, CBIT, which charged `1.13 lakh fee in the last block period, has sought for the fee to be raised to `3 lakh, MGIT, from `1 lakh, wants it to be `2.30 lakh, Vasavi, from `86,000, is eyeing a whooping `1.90 lakh, and Vardhaman, from `1.05 lakh, is looking at a `1.89 lakh, to name a few. “This will make it difficult for students to cough up the fee and for the colleges to collect the fee,” said the KVK Rao, general secretary, All India Federation of Self Financing Technical Institutions.
Meanwhile, the TAFRC decision has also elicited strong opposition students and parents. Activists from Students Federation of India (SFI) and Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) have alleged that the fee regulatory committee was not taking into consideration the welfare of students. Sharan Raichur, president, Telangana Engineering Students Joint Action Committee, said that the government has added insult to injury by reducing the fee reimbursement bracket from 10,000 ranks to only 5,000 ranks. The TS Parents Association too is miffed with the committee for excluding parents. “We will meet Justice SSwaroop (Chairman, TAFRC),” said N Narayan, president of TPA.