FRA RELEASES AD-HOC FEES FOR NEW COLLEGES

MUMBAI: In an attempt to ensure newly approved professional colleges don’t overcharge fees from students, the state Fee Regulating Authority (FRA) recently released the ad-hoc fees structure for all professional courses for the 2021-22 academic year.

“As per the provision of the FRA, the ad-hoc fees is the structure that new colleges will have to follow in order to ensure that they aren’t overcharging students. Once their respective fee structure gets approved, they can then charge the difference of amount from students,” said a senior official from FRA. The list of courses ranges from technical to medical, law, pharmacy and management courses.

As per the ad-hoc fees approved for the 2021-22 academic year, undergraduate engineering institutes can charge up to ₹70,000 annually, Bachelor of Architecture fees cannot exceed ₹90,000 annually and Master of Architecture course fees cannot exceed ₹100,000. Doctor of Medicine (MD) and Master of Surgery (MS) course fees cannot exceed ₹1,000,000 per annum, MBBS and BDS course fees for the year cannot exceed ₹700,000 and ₹250,000, respectively.

While FRA said it will accept individual applications from professional institutes who wish to change the fee structure, no institute is allowed to charge fees higher than the approved ad-hoc fees structure until the individual approval comes through.

An engineering institute principal said, “We have to pay teachers and maintain the infrastructure for whenever physical classes re-start. Such limited fees will create problems for us.”