Professional course fees set to rise in Telangana, BC students to bear the brunt

Tuition fees for professional courses including BPharmacy, MBA and MCA are set to increase in Telangana following TAFRC recommendations. While SC, ST and minority students remain protected, BC students securing ranks beyond 10,000 will face higher financial burden.

Hyderabad: The dream of pursuing professional programmes will turn costlier for students, particularly for those hailing from the BC communities, as the Telangana Congress government is set to hike tuition fee for courses including BPharmacy, MBA and MCA programmes, for the next three years.

The detailed fee structure for professional programmes accessed by ‘Telangana Today’ shows that more than over 50 out of 120 private pharmacy colleges tuition fee will get a hike as per the Telangana Admission and Fee Regulatory Committee (TAFRC) recommendations.

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Fees for seven colleges has crossed Rs.1 lakh with the highest being Rs.1.21 lakh fee per annum for the Guru Nanak Institutions Technical Campus.

The TARFC recommended the government to fix Rs.45,000 per annum as the base or lowest tuition fee for a few private pharmacy colleges. However, it retained the previous tuition fee structure for over 30 private pharmacy colleges.

As per the rules, irrespective of the category, all students who secure less than 10,000 rank in the Telangana Engineering, Agriculture and Pharmacy Common Entrance Test (TG EAPCET) are extended full tuition fee reimbursement by the government. Further, all the SC, ST and minorities candidates irrespective of the rank are given full reimbursement.

However, full fee reimbursement is not extended to students hailing from the BC communities, if they secure more than 10,000 rank. The government extends only the base fee fixed for that block period and the remaining amount has to be borne by the student. So, this increased fee is set to become a burden on BC students.

As for the MBA programme, the fee has gone up again, with most private colleges recording an increase with the highest being Rs.1.23 lakh per annum recommended for Chaitanya Bharathi Institute of Technology (CBIT) and BV Bhavan’s Vivekananda College of Science.

As per the recommendations, nine colleges received tuition fees above Rs.1 lakh per annum, majority colleges recording a nominal hike. There is no change fee for around 50 colleges, while the lowest fee stands at Rs.27,000 per annum.

Similarly, for the MCA programme, the CBIT recorded the highest fee of Rs.1.23 lakh per annum, which has been increased from Rs.1.10 lakh per annum. A total of 49 colleges got a hike and the previous fee has been retained for 11 colleges. This time, the lowest fee stands at Rs.27,000 per annum.

The new fee structure, as per the sources, has already been approved by the Finance department and will be shortly notified by the State government.