Not a good start for degree students in Telangana

Private, government-aided and university colleges are insisting students to partly pay their annual tuition fee at the time of admission despite being eligible for fee reimbursement from the State

Hyderabad: Thousands of first-year degree students across the State are facing a rough start to the 2025–26 academic year, as they are being compelled to pay at least half of their tuition fees upfront even though they qualify for government fee reimbursement.

As per the Degree Online Services Telangana (DOST) 2025 web counselling system, students whose family’s annual income is less than Rs 2 lakh are eligible for full tuition fee reimbursement from the State government that pays the colleges directly.

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However, this year, not just private, even the government-aided and university colleges are refusing to honour the admission rules, insisting students to partly pay their annual tuition fee at the time of admission.

For instance, the Nizam College, a constituent college of the Osmania University, has been asking students to cough up Rs 7,500 to Rs 15,000 fee based on the total tuition fee amount for a particular degree programme. This has triggered outrage among the student community and parents who are from economically weaker sections.

“I got an EPP (Economics, Public Administration and Political Science) seat in Nizam College and when I went to the college to finalise the admission, the administration asked me to pay half the tuition fee upfront. Since it’s a good college, I had no other option but to pay. College officials told me that the tuition fee will be reimbursed but I am not sure about it,” said N Ganesh Nayak, a student from Sangareddy.

Similar is the plight of students joining the Veeranari Chakali Ilamma Women’s University. Initially, the university administration asked students to pay the tuition fee, at least half the amount, upfront for admission and some students obliged despite their financial constraints. However, the university withdrew from its stand of collecting fees from students.

The private degree colleges said they are left with no other choice than collecting fees from students as their fee reimbursement dues have been pending for several years.

The State government, according to the colleges, is yet to release Rs 850 crore fee dues. Of the total, tokens for Rs 150 crore have already been approved but still pending disbursement.

Despite repeated requests, the funds remain unreleased. In fact, college managements staged protests, boycotted semester exams twice, and held a 40-day strike during academic year 2024-25, but to no avail.

“Since the government is not releasing scholarships for students and fee reimbursement, several colleges have decided to collect the fee from students to meet their day-to-day expenditures,” said a member of Telangana Private Degree and PG College Managements Association.

Acknowledging the issue, a senior TGCHE official said they have been requesting the government to release the fee arrears. “We will again request the government for early release of the fee arrears,” the official added.