Pvt colleges demand steep hike in fees

At a meeting with the State government on Tuesday, private college managements demanded that fees be hiked significantly for the coming academic year, owing to the implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission scales in their institutions.

Karnataka Unaided Private Engineering Colleges Association vice president, Dr Pandurang Shetty, said engineering colleges were spending between Rs 85,000 and Rs 1.05 lakh per annum per student.

“The average fee should be at least above Rs 85,000,” he said. The Rs 85,000 figure includes the average fees that a college receives –– the figure would be lower forState quota (CET) and higher under the private management (Comed-K) quota.

Currently, under the State government quota, private engineering colleges are charging Rs 18,000 and Rs 33,000 per annum.

If the government gives its nod to the private colleges’ demand, students will have to shell out more than twice the existing fees.

Medical colleges too are demanding that fees be hiked to an average of Rs 2.75 lakh per student per annum. Currently, medical students under the State quota are charged a fee of Rs 42,500 per annum. If the government accepts the private colleges’ demand, students will end up paying more than five times the existing fees.

The meeting was attended by Higher Education Minister V S Acharya and Medical Education Minister S A Ramadas.

‘Unacceptable’

A participant from the government side said: “The government cannot accept these figures. They are obviously too high. We want them to come down and offer a better deal.”

The government has reportedly told colleges to stick to last year’s formula, but managements have outrightly rejected the proposal.

The associations of medical and engineering colleges will meet over the issue on Saturday and present their proposals before the government next week.