Top engg seats at lower fee

60 colleges take 30k fee, 102 opt for 35k

The Karnataka Examination Authority has released the list of colleges who will charge the two fee structures sanctioned by the State government.

According to this list, 60 colleges will offer a fee of Rs 30,000, while another 102
colleges will fix the fee at Rs 35,000.

Top colleges such as BMS, RV, M S Ramaiah and BIT have opted to charge Rs 30,000 while several newer colleges are charging a higher fee of Rs 35,000.

This is because under the terms of the consensual agreement signed between the State government and the private colleges, two fee structures have been offered.

Colleges can charge a lower fee under CET (Rs 30,000) and a higher fee in COMED-K(Rs 1.25 lakh). Or, colleges can charge a higher fee under CET (Rs 35,000) and a lower fee under COMED-K (Rs 1 lakh). The reason for this is simple; colleges have chosen whatever will maximise their overall revenue.

Association President Pandurang Shetty says: “There are two kinds of colleges – those that have too many students vying for seats, and then there are colleges who struggle to fill seats”.

The top colleges stand to maximise their revenue by offering higher fee in the COMED-K quota. This works out to Rs 25,000 higher than the other slab.

For colleges that struggle to fill seats through COMED-K, their only source of revenue is through CET. Hence, they maximise that by offering the higher fee. The terms for this year’s consensual agreement were arrived at after bitter rounds of discussions between the State government and private colleges.

However, the report of the fee regulatory committee, which recommended much lower fees than expected, brought the two parties to a quick agreement.

Last year, the State government set the CET fee at Rs 30,000 for all colleges, while COMED-K fee was fixed at Rs 1.25 lakh. There will be no change in the fee structure for students admitted in previous years.

Students will also have to shell out an additional Rs 3,090 during CET counselling as university registration fee and other miscellaneous fees. Counselling for engineering courses will begin on July 7.

Twin avenues

Year                   CET fee               COMED-K fee                  No of Colleges

2011-12(*)          Rs 30,000           Rs 1.25 lakh                      60
                            Rs 35,000           Rs 1 lakh                          102
2010-11               Rs 30,000           Rs 1.25 lakh                     180

(*) More colleges expected