Telangana: Engineering colleges seek 15% increase in fee

HYDERABAD: Engineering education is all set to become costlier in the state as college managements on Friday put forth a proposal that would allow them to enhance the fee by 15%. This comes close on the heels of six engineering colleges, approaching the high court for fixation of fee.
In a meeting organized between the Telangana Admission and Fee Regulation Committee (TAFRC) and the management of private unaided professional colleges, college managements also demanded that the minimum fee be hiked to Rs 50,000 per year from the existing Rs 35,000.

“There is no way we could run colleges with a base fee of Rs 35,000. There is an urgent need to enhance the base fee in the state,” said KVK Rao, general secretary, All Indian Engineering Colleges Association. He said that engineering, pharmacy, MBA, MCA, BEd, Physical Education colleges have all requested to fix the tentative fee and requested that it be done at the earliest.
“If the state accepts our proposal for fixing the tentative fee, we have no problem in going ahead with counselling. After verification of our financials by the TAFRC, the final fee can be fixed,” said Rao. Countering the TAFRC proposal to fix the interim fee as 10% more than the existing fee, management said that there is no way they could survive with that money.
“We have to follow statutory norms, have all the infrastructure in place and pay teachers as per pay scale. Even if the state considers inflation of 4% per year, the fee should be enhanced at least by 12%,” said Srini Bhupalam, VP, All India Federation of Self Financing Technical Institutes.
SFI, ABVP oppose proposed fee hike
Demanding that the state should not enhance fee for engineering and other professional courses this academic year, members of Student Federation of India (SFI) staged a dharna at Institute of Engineering, Khairtabad. They also interrupted the meeting between Telangana Admission and Fee Regulation Committee and the management of private unaided professional colleges.
“Colleges should be directed to follow all norms and improve infrastructure, only then should they be allowed to enhance the fee, that too after verifying their financials,” said K Ramesh of SFI.
Members of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, who met the chairman of TAFRC, Justice P Swaroop Reddy, also requested him to regulate the fee in professional colleges.