Panel wants task force on fees in professional colleges

Karnataka State Professional College Admission Committee has asked the government to set up a task force to keep tabs on fees being charged by private colleges offering professional courses.

The committee was set up in July 2012 to suggest ways to check exorbitant fees being charged by professional college managements, in addition to the government stipulated fee. Initially, the committee was asked to look into the problems of medical and dental colleges. However, engineering colleges too were brought under its purview after the government received complaints about colleges charging high fees. The colleges argued that they are forced to collect extra fees for value added facilities and infrastructure that they provide.

The one-man committee headed by Prof Venkataramaiah has now suggested that the government take up quantitative analysis of extra fees and fix a cap. “Managements say that they need to charge extra for all the facilities they offer. The extra fee ranges between Rs 7,000 and Rs 60,000. This is where the government needs to step in and fix a cap,” Prof Venkataramaiah told Deccan Herald.

The committee has submitted the interim report now. Last year, the government had asked all private managements to refund extra fee collected from students. The committee will now look into the amount of extra fee refunded by the private managements and submit the final report in one-and-a-half months. “I want to submit the final report before the next academic year so that students will not have to face the problem again,” he added.