Higher education in the city may just get a little more expensive.
Last year, the Bangalore University had decided to hike the fees charged from colleges that run courses in affiliation with it.
That decision is all set to be implemented this year, and colleges find they have little option but to pass the additional burden on to students.
To renew their affiliation and to increase intake of students, colleges are charged a fee by the Bangalore University. Even those students already admitted can now expect to have to bear their share of the burden of the hike in affiliation costs.
“To match the affiliation fee charged by the university, we need to increase the admission fee charged from students by at least 30%,” said the principal of one well known degree college.
Bangalore University issued an official order about the revision in affiliation fees to all concerned colleges on Wednesday; the initial order in this matter was dated October 9, 2009.
The admission process for undergraduate courses affiliated to Bangalore University has already begun. The university has asked the colleges to seek approval of their courses from August 16 to 30. The fresh charges for affiliation are: Rs15,000 for each BA course, and Rs40,000 for the BCom course per section.
Depending on the combination of subjects offered, affiliation for a BSc course could be either Rs15,000 per course or Rs40,000. Earlier, the fees charged were Rs15,000 for all three courses, BA, BCom and BSc.
Colleges who wish to admit more students will also be charged more. Each additional section in the BA course would cost the college Rs10,000, and Rs1,000 for each 10 seats. For the BCom course, it is Rs40,000 per additional course, and Rs4,000 per 10 seats.
Many college authorities expressed dismay at the revised affiliation fees, as they would be left with little to do but pass the additional burden on to students. M Prakash, principal, Sheshadripuram Degree College, Yelahanka, said, “The revised fees are seven to eight times higher than in previous years. How can we possibly raise that kind of money without passing the burden on to our students?”
At present, the average fees charged for a BA course is Rs4000 to Rs5000 per annum, and for the BCom courses, it is Rs12,000 to Rs15,000. For BSc courses, the normal fees charged range from Rs15,000 to Rs17,000 per year. However, there are also colleges in the city that also charge up to Rs3 lakh for some courses like the bachelor’s degree in business management.
“We have to pay Rs40,000 for BSc special courses like computer science, biotechnology, microbiology, biochemistry and genetics. But when we look at the number of students admitted to the BSc courses, there are very few. When that is the situation, how can the college pay Rs40,000 to the university?” asked Prakash.
Prakash explained how the revised fees would make a big dent in the average college’s finances: “Earlier, we used to pay Rs2.5 lakh as affiliation fee for all the courses we offer. Under the revised affiliation fees, we would be expected to pay over Rs13 lakh to attain affiliation for all the undergraduate programmes we run.”
RM Ranganath, registrar, Bangalore University said, “This revision will not burden students additionally. Unaided colleges which have self-financing courses charge students more for the courses anyway, and even the students who choose to go to such colleges come from families that are well off.”
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