Some Colleges Seek 100% Hike from Regulating Body
Over 400 MBA, MCA, pharmacy and engineering colleges are
set to hike fee. The fee regulatory committee (FRC), Gujarat is likely to announce
a 25-40 % hike in fees in such colleges in a few days.
The fee structure in Gujarat for self-financed colleges is revised every three years
and the new fee structure would be applicable for over 60,000 students who will
be admitted in July this year.
Officials from a majority of the colleges who were called for a five-minute presentation
before the FRC demanded a 100% fee hike. They cited the increase in salary after
sixth pay commission, skyrocketing prices of chemicals used for experiments in college
laboratories, costly lab equipments, expenditure on new buildings as the reasons
for the proposed fee hike.
The FRC had asked for a three-year audit report of these institutes to verify whether
the demands were reasonable or not.
Sources claim that in case of engineering courses, colleges have demanded a fee
hike from the current Rs. 30,000 - Rs. 35,000 to Rs. 40,000 - Rs. 45,000. In some colleges,
fee is expected to rise from Rs. 65,000 to Rs. 80,000.
For pharmacy courses, the fee structure may go up from Rs. 40,000 - Rs. 50,000 to
Rs. 55,000 - Rs. 70,000. A group of pharmacy colleges had requested the FRC not to
increase the fees as they feared that it would deter students from taking up pharmacy
courses. Colleges offering MBA and MCA courses have requested a reasonable fee,
which may increase from Rs. 35,000 - Rs. 40,000 to Rs. 50,000 - Rs. 65,000. In case
of diploma engineering courses the fee structure is expected to rise from Rs. 25,000 - Rs.
30,000 to Rs. 40,000.
Once announced by the FRC, the new fee structure will not be applicable to current
batch of students in these colleges as per the self-financed fee regulation Act
2009, said a source in the FRC.
Courtesy: Times of India
