Students feel DESPU could mean fee hike, fewer seats in Fergusson, BMCC colleges, VC dispels fears

“For students like us who come from rural areas of Marathwada and Vidarbha, studying in Fergusson College is a dream,” said a third-year student of the college, adding that the fees for self-financed sections are double that of grant-in-aid sections of the college. If they now become part of DESPU, the fees would go up making the courses unaffordable, the student said.

Another student said, “Removing the self-financed sections from autonomous DES colleges and bringing them under DESPU could mean an overall reduction in the number of students who get to study under the aegis of such prestigious institutes. The competition will be even higher.”

Dispelling the apprehensions, founding Vice-Chancellor of DESPU Prasad Khandekar, however, said they have not yet submitted the proposal for the same to the government and hence “it is too early to talk about this” in detail. “The Deccan Education Society was founded on the principle of accessible education 138 years ago and we will not stray from that,” Khandekar said.

He, however, hinted that a marginal hike in fees is likely when they try to bring in value-addition in education. “When we start a university, we would like to give our students a few more facilities which are not possible in the affiliated college system and when we try to do this, there could be a marginal fee hike of 10-20%. It will not double. But it will still lead to education that is affordable considering the quality,” Khandekar pointed out.