Colleges are charging high fees unfairly: Expert panel

The committee the state government had set up to look into the admission process and anomalies in fee structure of the state’s professional colleges has disapproved of the colleges’ argument for charging excess fees.

The committee was set up after thousands of students had complained that the colleges were charging more fees than what the government had prescribed. Thus came Karnataka State Professional Colleges Admissions Monitoring Committee, headed by Prof P Venkatappa, into existence. The committee’s interim report is ready and will be submitted to the state’s higher education and medical education department by Monday.

DNA has got hold of the main recommendations of the report. The colleges that were charging excess fees were asked to explain their action.

The colleges’ justification has failed to impress the committee. The colleges contended that the extra fees they are charging is towards the extra facilities the college provides. The committee did not see merit in the argument. One of its main recommendations is fixing a uniform fee even for these facilities, so that the colleges cannot charge arbitrary amount in the name of certain facilities.

Thousands of students had filed complaints about colleges charging excess fees. Of these, the committee considered 420 complaints as only these many were clear and had documents to back the claim. After scrutinising the complaints, the committee had issued notice to 64 engineering and 16 dental and medical colleges. The colleges’ reply failed to impress the committee, whose interim report states the government should provide justice to the students who were made to shell out more money in the name of fees.

The committee has recommended that the government set up a task force to look into fees- and admission-related issues. Also, it has recommended that the agreement signed between the government (Karnataka Examinations Authority) and private colleges be followed in letter and spirit. The committee has stated that there is no scope for any problem to arise if the agreement is followed to the T.