Interim fee structure can’t satisfy colleges

Soon after The Indian Express investigation into the fees charged by medical and engineering colleges, the Educational Institutions Regulato...

Soon after The Indian Express investigation into the fees charged by medical and engineering colleges, the Educational Institutions Regulatory Authority (EIRA) has swung into action. On Wednesday, it announced an interim fee structure for seats in unaided private engineering colleges in Maharashtra, pegging it at ‘‘not more than Rs 37,000 for the time being’’. This figure, including Rs 32,000 as fees and Rs 5,000 towards development fees, will be the amount charged of students who qualify on merit.

However, the EIRA decision, though intended as an interim arrangement, did not go down well with the college managements. The head of an engineering college in suburban Mumbai, sounding a bit disappointed with the figure, said: ‘‘We haven’t received an official intimation from them (EIRA) yet, but don’t you think this is insufficient to run a college?’’

Most colleges had submitted proposals to the EIRA to be allowed to charge fees in the range of Rs 45,000-Rs 50,000. The EIRA, set up by the government to check the extent of capitation fees charged by private colleges, has to clear all the fee proposals.

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Having announced an interim fee structure, the EIRA will have to scrutinise various institutions’ proposals, including for fees for the management quota seats, within a month and then get them certified. ‘‘We will check to see if these fees are reasonable. Only after we certify the fee structure as approved can colleges go ahead and charge the amount,’’ said EIRA secretary A.D. Sawant.

This means, for now, engineering colleges can charge only Rs 37,000 at the time of admissions and the rest after their fee structure is certified by EIRA. ‘‘We expect that anything above what EIRA certifies will be refunded or adjusted against the fees for next year,’’ Sawant said.

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