SMALL HIKE IN FEE SOP AT DEGREE LEVEL

The state government could be increasing the annual tuition fee in aided and private degree colleges that will be reimbursed to students from poorer sections from the forthcoming academic year, on the back of a committee recommending the hike.

Even after the increase, the amount reimbursed would be nominal since there is huge variation between the fees collected by colleges and the fee to be reimbursed by government.

While the colleges collect annual fee ranging from `15,000 to `30,000 per year, the students would get a reimbursement ranging from just `950 to `1,363 in aided college and `1,901 to `1,376 in private colleges, even after the latest increase.

The students will have to pay the rest of the fee from their own pockets.

A committee headed by principal secretary, revenue, G. Somesh Kumar has finalised the fee structure and will be submitting it to the government.

According to sources the committee had decided to recommend an increase of 12 per cent in the fee in colleges in municipal corporations, 10 per cent in municipalities and 8 per cent in colleges located at the mandal level. The fee is to be revised every three years, but had not been done so in the previous cycle.

The managements of the aided and private degree colleges had requested the state government to hike the fee as their administrative expenditure had increased over the years.

The Somesh Kumar committee also recommended a hike in the admission fee in aided colleges from `880 to `970 and in private colleges from `1,760 to `1,940.

The committee has estimated that the additional financial burden in the form of fee reimbursement would be `102.23 crore per year.

The state government will take a final call after it receives the committee’s report, sources said.