Colleges fleece engg, medical aspirants with 'extra' fees

Several students reporting to private colleges after collecting admission orders from Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA) are being taken for a ride.

The institutes are asking them to pay a lot more than what they have already paid to KEA in the form of demand drafts (DDs).

While KEA asserts that colleges cannot charge more than what has been fixed in the consensual agreement, the institutes say the extra fees are “perfectly permissible”.

A number of such complaints spurred the KEA to issue a notification on Friday evening. As per the agreement signed by the State government and private colleges on July 11, students have to pay only the notified fees, Rashmi V Mahesh, Executive Director, KEA, reiterated.

But students complained that colleges have demanded “miscellaneous charges”. In some instances, the extra fee was almost equal to the original amount. In short, students have had to pay double the notified amount.

Sukanya (name changed) selected a seat in BMS College of Engineering. The prescribed fee is Rs 18,090 but she has been asked to pay almost double the sum.

According to her, the college justified the extra fee, breaking it up under several heads of expenditure. The BMSCE Principal, Mallikarjuna Babu K, did not return phone calls made and SMSes sent by Deccan Herald.

On its part, the KEA maintained that although it was not authorised to take a decision on the matter, it was doing its best to safeguard students’ interests.

“It’s up to the government to decide. Our job is that of a facilitator in conducting the exam and allotting seats,” K Jyoti, Administrative Officer, KEA, said.

The KEA says it will take up the matter with the Departments of Medical and Technical Education as well as with the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences and Visvesvaraya Technological University.

Students can approach the one-man monitoring committee headed by P Venkataramaiah for medical and dental colleges. Engineering students need to approach the Principal Secretary, Higher Education.

Meanwhile, Panduranga Shetty, Vice-president, Karnataka Unaided Private Engineering Colleges’ Association, justified the extra fees which have not been stipulated in the consensual agreement. He says colleges will have to collect the extra amount for various facilities extended to students.

“The KEA has no business. If students have to avail of various facilities, they need to pay more,” he told this newspaper. The extra fees include charges for uniform, laboratory, etc. According to him, no college can run a course only on the stipulated fee.

On the medical front, a few deemed universities have demanded more fees.

There are only 78 seats in nine varsities but the consensual agreement does not stipulate the fees they have to charge.

As a result, students are being asked to pay as much as Rs 4.5 lakh for an MBBS seat. Dr G S Venkatesh, In-charge Director, Medical Education, says clarification has been sought from the Ministry of Medical Education, in this regard.

Venkataramaiah says students can write to him at [e-mail]. A website (ksmdamc.com) will also be launched in a week.