The state
government on Monday decided to fix a cap on the fees it will reimburse
to engineering, MBA and MCA colleges from this academic year.
Beneficiaries of the fee reimbursement scheme will, thus, have to pay
the extra amount after the fees are hiked.The government has, however, assured to pay the entire fees for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes students with financial assistance from the Centre. This, on the other hand, leaves students of the Backward Classes (BC) and the Economically Backward Classes (EBC) in a lurch.
It was also decided to extend the scheme to students next year only if they passed in 50 per cent of the total subjects in their First Year exams.
Thus, from now on, the government will only reimburse the existing fees of `31,000 per annum for engineering students and `27,000 for MBA/MCA students. With the state government announcing on Monday that it would fix a cap on the fees that it would reimburse, students will have to bear the excess amount.
The government, however, has assured that it will help students get interest-free loans from banks.
The Admissions and Fee Regulatory Committee has sought three-months to revise the fee structure based on the SC orders.
Officials estimate that the fees will increase to a minimum of `50,200, which means students have to pay nearly `20,000 from their pockets.
In some colleges, the fees will be in the range of
`75,000 to `1,00,000. The decision was taken in the meeting of the Group of Ministers (GoM) on Monday.
“It will take another 2-3 months to revise the fee structure for engineering, MBA and MCA colleges.
However, we cannot delay Eamcet and Icet counselling for admissions on account of this. For this reason, we have decided to begin the counselling with the old fee structure. The government will also reimburse the old fees for BC, EBC students. In case of any hike in fees, the students will have to bear the additional amount. However, the government will assist them to get interest free loans from banks for the purpose,” said minister for social welfare Pithani Satyanarayana.
The state’s decision evoked sharp criticism from BC and EBC associations, who threatened to launch statewide agitations if it did not reimburse the entire fee irrespective of a hike.
Fees will increase to a minimum of `50,200, and students will have to pay `20,000 from their pockets. In some colleges, fee will range from `75,000 to `1,00,000
