There is a lot of confusion over the fee structure of the Engineering colleges apart from the schedule of counseling in the state. The students and the parents are in a state of confusion as to when would this process begin. On the other hand the Government is also confused as to what would be the component of excess burden to be absorbed in the future in case of fee reimbursement, if the fee is hiked.

There are apprehensions that the students who can afford might opt for the colleges with high fees and all other colleges with low fees may not be preferred by them as they will have less infrastructure and low quality education when compared to the high class category. It may be noted that 145 colleges have opted for high fee structure in the name of good infrastructure and also quality education with good results.

Meanwhile there are apprehensions that the fee for engineering and pharmacy courses in the State may go up apart from the financial burden over the Government on the fee  eimbursement front from this year. According to the officials in the Education department the burden of the fees reimbursement scheme will further pressurize the Government to a
larger extent. It is likely that any implementation of the uniform fee as suggested by the apex court would put an additional burden of around Rs 650 to Rs 1000 crore on the Government.

The Rs 3800 crore earmarked by the Government for the scholarships and the fee  eimbursement will not be adequate for the current year taking the situation into  account. With the Supreme Court disallowing the State government’s argument for continuing the existing differential fee structure for  onvener quota and management quota seats , the counseling for the Engineering students is getting further delayed and it may happen by the end of this month .

The existing fee structure of Rs. 31,500 for the convener quota and Rs. 95,000 for the management quota has to be done away with, and if average of these two fee structures is considered, then the fee may be fixed around Rs. 50000 to 60,000 for a seat. While some of the college managements wanted the existing fee structure to continue , some other frontline managements demanded that there should be a different fee structure according to the infrastructure and the quality of education being imparted to the students. It could be a welcome decision to the college managements that have been seeking fee hike under convener quota, the government will have to bear additional financial burden, due to the fee reimbursement scheme.

If the Supreme Court directive is applicable to the colleges that moved the court, what would be the government’s stand for the rest of the colleges that have not approached the court? The Consortium of Engineering and Professional Colleges Managements Association (CEPMA) demanded that the government extend uniform fee to all the colleges and issue notification immediately.

The Chairman of Andhra Pradesh state council for Higher Education P. Jayaprakash Rao told KAB that the court direction suggests that the uniform fee as suggested by the A.P. High Court has to be implemented for the 2012-13 academic year.

But the fact is that the uniform fee structure will not be uniform in the true sense as the fee structure has to be designed
separately for each college based on their financial statements submitted to the  Admission and Fee Regulation Committee (AFRC).

Reimbursement burden The reality is that more than 80 percent admitted students are claiming fee reimbursement and the financial burden will be huge for the Government.Is the Government ready to absorb the burden is a big question ? The entire controversy may actually lead to the delay in admissions as the government has to be cautious while issuing the admission notification as the Government Orders (GOs) issued before the notification only will be valid. Any change in fee or admission procedure after the notification may lead to legal tangles further delaying the process of admission.

Court Verdict The Supreme Court earlier rejected an application from the state Government to permit the enhanced  ifferential fee structure for category ‘A’ and `B’ quota seats in the eligible colleges who had furnished relevant data to the  admissions and Fee Regulatory Committee. The State was aggrieved over the direction given by the Andhra Pradesh High Court that for the academic years 2010-11, 2011-12 and 2012-13, the Admission and fee regulation committee (AFRC) should consider afresh the fee structure proposals submitted by those private educational institutions, including a direction to recommend a uniform fee for category ‘A’ and category ‘B’ students. It also gave liberty to the AFRC to recommend a higher fee for the 15 per cent NRI category students.

Even as the matter was pending consideration before the AFRC, the State said the AFRC could not recommend uniform fee for the reason that many colleges did not respond to the notification dated February 9, 2012 and had not furnished the data. Hence, the existing fee structure for this block might be followed for the academic year 2012-13 in tune with the system adopted in 2010-11 and 2011-12, the State said.

The State insisted that differential fee should be charged for the current academic year. Justice Lodha asked the counsel, “What is the confusion? There is no confusion and no clarification of our order is necessary. We will consider all aspects during the hearing of the appeal. We are dismissing this application. The AFRC is creating more hurdles and making things more complex.” The court opined.

The colleges, said the AFRC was playing with the students’ future at the instance of the State for political reasons. They wondered why students should pay differential fee for the State’s reimbursement policy. The committee had to be independent and not act as an agent of the State government. The colleges argued no clarification was necessary and sought dismissal of the application.

DELAY IN COUNSELING: The suspense over the Eamcet counselling for engineering  students is growing as the Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy appointed a nine-member expert panel to study the implementation  of fee reimbursement scheme and the proposed new fee structures.

This clearly indicates that there will be further delay in the counselling for the students. The CM was upset at the poor quality of graduates being produced by higher educational institutes despite the state spending Rs 3,500 crore on fee reimbursement scheme and scholarships every year.

On the other hand the government’s mandate said the committee will study financial implications arising out of the SC order and suggest on how to minimise the financial burden by providing “affordable education with high standards”.

There was also a suggestion from one of the Ministers that the Government should  stablish and run the Engineering colleges so that they can give quality and affordable education especially to the poor and the needy. The committee was asked to submit its report at the earliest to the group of Ministers, which will then take a decision on the issue to enable commencement of Eamcet counselling. If everything goes well according to the latest reports the counselling is being scheduled after August 15nth.

The Group of Ministers will go through the committee’s report and issue its own  ecommendations, which would be referred to the CM for final approval. The committee is  xpected to suggest stringent measures, like removing the present method of giving fee reimbursement and scholarship to students on a “saturation basis” and replacing it with a “meritbased system.

THE SCENARIO
It is reported that there are around 85000 seats in the 145 colleges that have opted for the fee hike. Seventy percent out of this will be filled under the convener quota. It is likely that the Government scheme would  be extended to abut 45 000 students here.

If the seats are filled on an average rate of around Rs 51000 in all the colleges then the burden on the state Government would be more than Rs 600 crore according to un- official estimates. The burden of the 145 colleges itself will be to the tune of around Rs 175 crore it is learnt. The fee hike is more in the management quota when compared to the convener quota according to the unofficial reports. The fee of Rs 31000 under the convener quota is likely to be around Rs 51000 if the hike is implemented.

When it comes to management quota , 5 percent was filled in 1988, 10 percent in 1993, 15 percent in 1996, and in 2007 it went upto 25 percent and now it is 30 percent seats under the management quota. The officials who decline to be quoted said that the management quota will remain the same even of some changes are implemented in the near future.

THE IMPACT Of THE VERDICT
1. The fee has to be decided on the expenditure of the colleges the infrastructure and facilities being created by the college. 133 colleges have already given a detailed account of the expenditure to the committee. On an average the fee could be Rs 51000 but if worked out on the basis of balance sheet it could go upto Rs 70000 also.
2. The students who get good ranks selected by good colleges may be forced to pay higher price. Some poor students who cannot afford this higher fee structure have to get away from these colleges as they cannot afford the higher amount. The proposed hike in fee could be between 50 to 150 percent depending on the college and its infrastructure and its expenditure.
3. If there is no difference in fee between the convener quota and the management quota then the burden has to be taken by the Government which would be additional to the Government. The Government might have to fill both the quotas in future if the fee  tructure is common.
4. until the fee structure is decided the students may not opt for the colleges and the counseling will not begin and it might take another 2 to 3 weeks for the same process to begin. This might delay the academic year.
5. The colleges who do not have proper infrastructure will also be forced to hike to some extent . If they are charging Rs 31000 they might go up to Rs 50000 it is reported. But all this depends upon the decision of the committee appointed by the Government and also the group of Ministers looking into the issue.