Same tuition fee, extra sundry charges

CHANDIGARH, December 24: Students of Punjab and Chandigarh pay only Rs 100 per month while studying in government colleges. However, tuit...

CHANDIGARH, December 24: Students of Punjab and Chandigarh pay only Rs 100 per month while studying in government colleges. However, tuition fee accounts for less than a third of the total fee being charged.

With the hike in tuition fee becoming an emotive issue, universities all across the state have adopted the path of hike in examination fee and other sundry charges to mop up more revenue from students.

A study of the fee structure of colleges in Punjab and Chandigarh reveals that over the years, government institutions have not hiked the tuition fee in these colleges and instead, concentrated on sundry charges. However, the agitation by students of Punjabi University over the fee being charged reveals that even a hike in these charges has become contentious.

In Chandigarh, the monthly tuition fee being charged from students of government colleges is Rs 30 from under-graduate students and Rs 40 from post-graduate students. A member of the university Syndicate reveals that since every student who is admitted would has to appear in the examination, the universities are repeatedly resorting to hikes in examination fees to mop up additional revenue.

While the Punjab government had constituted a committee 8212; headed by Vice- Chancellor of Guru Nanak Dev University Prof H.S. Soch 8212; for revision of the fee structure in colleges and universities, the recommendations have not been implemented so far. Even the Soch Committee had suggested a hike in various funds while keeping the monthly tuition fee pegged at the same rate.

The yearly tuition fee being charged from college students in Punjab is about Rs 1,200, which broadly comes out to be Rs 100 per month, though the academic session runs for only seven months.

The Soch Committee has recommended net annual charges of Rs 2,357 for arts and Rs 2,417 for science students studying in graduate classes. At GNDU, however, the Soch Committee has decided not to enhance the monthly tuition fee of Rs 10, 12 and Rs 15 respectively for Plus One, graduate and post-graduate classes while revising other funds. At GNDU, private colleges are charging anything between Rs 4,000 and Rs 14,000 at the graduate-level colleges.

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Even in Punjabi University, the fee structure in government colleges follows the pattern laid down by the government and is similar to the GNDU charges. However, if the reaction of students of various colleges in Patiala is any indication, even the path of hike in examination fee without touching the tuition fee is now facing stiff resistance.

With inputs from Yogindra Mohan, Satinder Bains and Bajinder Pal Singh.