Engineering colleges settle for 8% fee hike

The engineering colleges, which were demanding a 10% hike in fees, settled for an 8% increase as suggested by the Fee Regulatory Committee.

With the deadline for admissions to the new academic year fast approaching, the colleges have decided to go ahead with the admission process.

Confirming the latest decision to DH, M K Panduranga Setty, secretary of Karnataka Unaided Engineering Colleges Association said, “We had actually demanded a 30% hike and after negotiations the last week, we had agreed for a 10% hike. But the Higher Education Department was also keen on the recommendation on fees made by the regulatory committee.”

“As it was already late and none of us wanted to further delay the process, we resolved to go ahead with an 8% fee hike. We are just left with 22 days and need to complete the admission process to be able to start the fresh academic year on August 1 as directed by the Supreme Court,” Setty further added.

On Monday, the engineering colleges agreed for an 8% hike after several rounds of meetings with authorities.

According to a senior official in the Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA), negotiations with engineering colleges were delaying the release of the engineering seat matrix.

“Firstly, a few engineering colleges were not happy with the 10% hike. They were firm in their demand. But the higher education department was not willing to give in. Since nothing was finalised, there is still uncertainty over the release of the engineering seat matrix,” a KEA official told DH.

The KEA published the medical and dental seat matrix on Saturday evening, but they were still awaiting the official notification from the government over the engineering seat matrix. “Now, we have cleared all the hurdles. The fee will be fixed to 8% or even less. We will release the seat matrix by Tuesday or Wednesday,” said Rajkumar Khatri, Principal Secretary, Higher Education, who denied this was the reason for the delay in releasing the seat matrix.