Fee reduction: Self-financing colleges ask govt to foot bill

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Following repeated pleas from a section of students and parents, the Higher Education Department has issued an order directing self-financing educational institutions under it to reduce fees in certain categories, in view of the pandemic. However, self-financing institutions have asked the government to bear the financial commitment due to the nonpayment of fees by students in the wake of the order.

Higher Education Minister R Bindu said the government order was issued as several people had lost their means of livelihood during the pandemic and were struggling to bear the educational expenses of their children. The minister said some of the students in self-financing engineering colleges complained that they were expelled from online classes and not allowed to attend the examination due to non-payment of fees. “We have not demanded a total rollback of fees.

While tuition fees, exam fees and university fees can be collected, special fees and other miscellaneous fees can be waived off ,” the minister told TNIE. The Higher Education Department’s order will be mostly applicable to over 90 self-financing engineering colleges in the state. The Kerala Self- Financing Engineering College Management’s Association (KSFECMA) said member colleges had already decided to collect only tuition fees and that too in three equal instalments this year.

Though the government has permitted colleges to collect `99,000 as tuition fee and `25,000 as special fee, most of the engineering colleges are collecting below `50,000 per year, the association said. Scholarship is also being provided to deserving candidates. “Though classes are being conducted regularly in online mode, 80% of students, including those from the financially sound background, are reluctant to remit tuition fees. Self-Financing Engineering Colleges are in acute financial crisis,” Biju Ramesh, president of KSFECMA, said.

PANEL CITES LIMITATIONS 

The Admission Supervisory and Fee Regulatory Committee headed by Justice (Retd) R Rajendra Babu had also received numerous complaints from parents and students. However, most of these were related to self-financing medical colleges. Sources in the committee said it had limitations in intervening in the issue. The panel had forwarded the representations to selffinancing colleges for action.