Telangana: Engineering education in private colleges get dearer

Hyderabad: The undergraduate engineering education has gotten dearer in the State. The government which notified the fee for BE/BTech courses in the private unaided engineering colleges has fixed Rs 1.60 lakh per annum as the highest fee, while the minimum fee per annum was pegged at Rs 45,000 per annum. This new structure notified by […]

Hyderabad: The undergraduate engineering education has gotten dearer in the State. The government which notified the fee for BE/BTech courses in the private unaided engineering colleges has fixed Rs 1.60 lakh per annum as the highest fee, while the minimum fee per annum was pegged at Rs 45,000 per annum.

This new structure notified by the government on the basis of recommendations of the Telangana Admission and Fee Regulatory Committee (TAFRC) will be applicable for the three-year block period starting this academic year i.e., 2022-23.

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The fee is fixed considering the college’s income and expenditure incurred. During the last-three year block period that concluded in 2021-22, the highest fee was Rs.1.34 lakh per annum and minimum was Rs 35,000 per annum.

While fee for 159 engineering colleges was revised, Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Technology (MGIT), Gandipet, got the highest fee i.e., Rs 1.60 lakh per annum. Chaitanya Bharathi Institute of Technology (CBIT), Gandipet, which had received the highest fee of Rs 1.34 lakh per annum in 2019-20, now, has a fee of Rs 1.40 lakh per annum.

Of the total private engineering colleges, 40 colleges got a fee fixation of Rs 1 lakh per annum or above and nine have received a minimum fee of Rs.45,000 per annum.

Earlier, as fee revision was due for the next three-year block period this year, the TAFRC had invited applications from private engineering colleges. A fee of Rs 1.73 lakh per annum for the CBIT was initially fixed that was highest among all other colleges in the State and Rs 45,000 per annum was arrived at as a minimum fee for pursuing engineering education in the State.

However, this revised fee was not notified and the Committee had decided to retain the existing fee for the present academic year given the hardships faced by students and parents due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

With the TAFRC retaining the old fee structure for this academic year, 79 private engineering colleges approached the High Court which passed an interim order allowing them to collect the enhanced fee. However, it asked the colleges to refund the differential amount if the fee notified by the TAFRC was less than the amount collected from students.

As there were discrepancies in the audit reports, the TAFRC had again taken up the task of auditing financial statements submitted by the colleges’ management. The Committee again called colleges for personal hearings and fixed the fee which has now been notified by the State government.