Maharashtra UG medical admissions: FRA regulates tuition fee, medical colleges hike additional charges
Which means, the FRA's order has brought little relief to students taking admission at the college as the total fees paid at the time of admission has only dropped from Rs 14.16 lakh to Rs 12.84 lakh.
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With undergraduate (UG) medical admissions starting in Maharashtra, all colleges uploaded their individual fee structures on their official websites following FRA’s approval earlier this month.
Days after the Fee Regulatory Authority (FRA) slashed the tuition fee from Rs 8.4 lakh to Rs 4.8 lakh a year for MBBS course at the Prakash Institute of Medical Science and Research in Sangli, the fee structure uploaded by the college on its website shows considerable increase in the additional charges, which are not regulated by the FRA.
Which means, the FRA’s order has brought little relief to students taking admission at the college as the total fees paid at the time of admission has only dropped from Rs 14.16 lakh to Rs 12.84 lakh.
With undergraduate (UG) medical admissions starting in Maharashtra, all colleges uploaded their individual fee structures on their official websites following FRA’s approval earlier this month.
The FRA fee approval only includes tuition and development fees. Whereas, the total fee structure of colleges include other heads such as money deposited for library, laboratory, hostel and mess, which includes charges and caution money. Considering this, the individual fee structure made public by colleges are generally expected to be higher.
But the Sangli medical college case has shocked parents. The caution money alone has increased from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 3
lakh. The fees and deposit for hostel and mess together has jumped from Rs 2.25 lakh to Rs 3.50 lakh. “Even as some of it is refundable, a parent must make preparation for the entire amount at the time of admission. From next academic year there will be relief, considering the reduction in tuition fee,” said Brijesh Sutaria, a parent.
In another example, at Dr N Y Tasgaonkar Institute of Medical Science in Karjat, even as the FRA approved fees is Rs 7 lakh, the total amount payable at the time of admission is Rs 16 lakh. At SMBT Institute of Medical Science and Research Centre in Nashik’s Igatpuri, the FRA approved fees, which include tuition and development fees, is Rs 11.60 lakh. But the total amount payable at the time of admission is Rs 14.60 lakh. At ACPM Medical College and Hospital in Dhule, FRA approved tuition and development fee is Rs 6.60 lakh whereas a candidate will have to pay Rs 10.53 at the
time of admission.
“Considering that the FRA only approves two components of the fee structure, some increase in overall fee structure
is always anticipated. Parents are expected to make arrangements for additional Rs 2 lakh or so. But in some colleges the total fee structure is almost double than the tuition and development fee approved by the FRA. This upsets financial planning by parents, especially because colleges do not share their individual fee structure until late,” said Sudha Shenoy, a parent representative, adding that these fee structures should be out before students fill choice-forms. “Fees payable at the time of admission plays a major role in deciding the preference list of colleges to be filled in choice forms,” she said.
Meanwhile, the first round of seat allotment was announced on Friday night.
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