Karnataka: Fee for govt quota engineering seats to be hiked by 7.5%

Bengaluru: The annual fee for undergraduate engineering courses in the state is set to go up by 7.5% from the coming academic year.

A decision to this effect was taken at a meeting chaired by Minister for Higher Education Dr M C Sudhakar, wherein representatives of private engineering colleges were in attendance. Although they insisted on a 10-15% hike in the fee, the minister prevailed on them to settle for raising the fee by 7.5%. The fee hike will be effective for those seats allotted from the government’s quota.

This is the second consecutive year that the fee for the undergraduate engineering course has been hiked by 7.5%, although it was increased by only 5% for seats at government colleges. However, no decision has been taken on hiking the fee for government colleges for the coming academic year.

Consequently, the fee for KCET seats at Type-1 engineering colleges is set to rise from Rs 81,000 to Rs 87,935, while it will increase from Rs 91,000 to Rs 97,825 at Type-2 colleges. The fee is exclusive of the charges levied for university registration and processing.

The university fee has been fixed at Rs 10,610. Meanwhile, there has been no change in the cap on additional fees that colleges can charge – Rs 20,000.

Private colleges reportedly pressed for a hike in the fees, citing rising costs.