Seat sale in TN's pvt colleges may fetch Rs 2,000cr

Updated on: Friday, June 24, 2011

It may well be described as the equivalent of the 2G scam in education. This year, Tamil Nadu's private medical and engineering colleges may collect Rs 1,500 crore to Rs 2,000 crore as capitation fees or illegal donations by selling seats to parents desperate to secure their children's future.

TOI spoke to several experts and stakeholders to work out the math. Each MBBS seat in the 11 private colleges and seven deemed universities in the state is currently sold for Rs 35-50 lakh. And each private medical college has 35-53 seats under the management quota for sale. In all, the 11 private colleges are expected to rake in over Rs 210 crore. Deemed universities, which do not have to part with anything for government quota, sell their seats for at least Rs 40 lakh each. And since each of them has 100-150 seats, it works out to Rs 280 crore. In all, private medical colleges and deemed universities may thus collect around Rs 500 crore as unaccounted money.

BE seats in the management quota in the best engineering colleges, on the other hand, cost Rs 7-15 lakh. In engineering, of 494 recognised colleges in TN, some 100 institutions command a premium due to superior infrastructure and placement records . Each of them has an average of 600 seats, of which 70% are in courses that are in demand . In engineering colleges, since two-thirds of seats are to be filled through government's single-window admission system , these colleges are left with around 14,000 seats under the management quota. These fetch an average price of Rs 10 lakh per seat, which translates into earnings of Rs 1,200-Rs 1,500 crore. Even by conservative estimates, it all adds up to Rs 2,000 crore.

"Hike in capitation fees this year is higher than the appreciation of land value in many places," said educational consultant Jayaprakash Gandhi. Average capitation fee for MBBS has risen from Rs 30 lakh in 2009 to 40 lakh. Private colleges have hiked rates as thousands of toppers , vying for a small number of government quota seats, are likely to knock at their doors.

Try this for size: This year, over 3,300 Class 12 students have scored more than 195 marks out of 200 in physics, chemistry and biology, and many of them are likely to seek a career in medicine. The same situation prevails in engineering education too. "This year, streams such as chemical engineering cost Rs 1 lakh per seat whereas in-demand courses like electronics and communication are priced at Rs 10-15 lakhs," said the dean of a deemed university.

Concerned parents and activists are now demanding that the government step up measures to curb the capitation fee menace. But officials at health and higher education departments say that they can only act on specific complaints from parents.

"There are no complaints from parents about colleges so far. It is only after counselling starts that the friction between parents and the college managements begin. Then the complaints start coming in. The government is ready to act on complaints to safeguard students," said M S Palanisamy, vicechairman of the Tamil Nadu State Council for Technical Education.

Times of India

Seat sale in TN's pvt colleges may fetch Rs 2,000cr

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