Cash-strapped RU hikes fee for pvt students by Rs 1K

Jaipur: The cash-strapped Rajasthan University (RU) has increased the fees for non-collegiate students by Rs 1,000 as one of the measures to increase the income.

RU's financial trouble becomes much deeper with the start of three varsities—Alwar, Sikar and Bharatpur which has taken away the 60% of its affiliated colleges and students. RU earns from affiliation and examination fees along with penalties on account of its code violators. RU was the biggest university with over 1,200 affiliated colleges till 2014. The opening of three universities has reduced the strength to 460 colleges concentrated in Jaipur and Dausa.

It left the university to look for measures to increase the income for the smooth it's functioning. Other than increasing the fees, the university is planning to seek donations from the alumni which are spread across the globe. "The presence of alumni is worldwide and it is a global practice that alumni provide support to its alma mater. In this regard, the university is forming a alumni network to mobilize them," said Bhupendra Singh Shekhawat, public relations officer, RU.

The university is exploring several other options to increase the revenue by renting our places. RU VC RK Kothari has already directed the dean and head of departments to look for funds for research from various agencies. University gets an annual planned grant of Rs 75 crore from the state government for paying salaries of its employees. The total amount required for the paying salaries is Rs 136 crores. The additional burden of Rs 60 crores on account of salaries along with Rs 80 Crores for pensioners and Rs 9.5 crore for gratuity is being met by the university. While the total revenue earned by the university comes around Rs 120 Rs crores annually.

"The cash crunch situation has put the developmental plans on the back burner. All resources goes into meeting the salaries and pensions," said a university source. The university has uprised the state higher education department on several occasions but they have not any response. "The state has expressed its inability to grant extra funds. They have repeatedly told all varsities to increase the revenues by using all means available to us including the fees hike on the annual basis," said a source.