Several top private engineering colleges in the state seek fee hike

Updated on: Saturday, June 16, 2012

Several top private engineering colleges in the state have asked for an increase in their annual fees for BE / B.Tech courses to Rs 1 lakh from the present Rs 32,500.

The Permanent Committee for Fixation of Fees in Self-Financing Professional Colleges in Tamil Nadu is expected to announce the revised fee structure by the first week of July before the government’s single window counselling begins.

The permanent committee headed by Justice N.V. Balasubramanian had asked all private engineering colleges in the state to provide their revenues and expenditures along with the fees they expected to be fixed this year.

Most of the top self-financing engineering colleges have asked the committee to fix Rs 1 lakh as annual fees, said committee sources, adding that some of the second and third tier colleges had expressed their willingness to continue with the present fee structure of Rs 32,500 (government quota) and Rs 62,000 (management quota).

“We will not go by whatever the college administration says but will instead look at their audit reports to ascertain their claims. Some of the colleges had even inflated their expenditures to show that they spend Rs 1 lakh per student,” said sources.

Several students and their parents had also sent their views about fixing the fees for private engineering colleges.

Sources said that apparently some college managements had even written as students stating that it would be difficult to run colleges if ` 32,500 was fixed as the annual fee.

It is reliably learnt that the committee, comprising government representatives and a chartered accountant, had met three times earlier to discuss the matter.

The committee is expected to invite college managements for a discussion this month to discuss the proposed fee revision.

An administrator of a private engineering college in the city confirmed that they had demanded Rs 80,000 as fees for the management quota citing several parameters, including hike in EB tariff and Sixth Pay Commission salaries for faculty.

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