While prestigious city colleges have come out with their cut-offs for commerce courses, illegal “education consultants” and “admission agents” seem to be having a field day promising students a B.Com seat in well-known colleges even if they have scored just 50 per cent marks in II PU.
Such practices and promises are well documented when it comes to professional courses, but an investigation by The Hindu exposed how an “illegal admission racket” is thriving for commerce courses this admission season.
“You give us your options with your budget and we will give you the rates. It all depends on the client’s budget,” said one agent, when approached by this reporter posing as a relative of a student seeking a B.Com seat.
Starting with a little over Rs. 1 lakh, the pricing goes by a simple logic: the better known the college, the costlier it gets. Admission is “guaranteed” but one needs to hurry as most admissions will close by this month-end, some claim.
Though colleges denied allowing any such direct admissions, some agents claimed that the demand draft (DD) of the non-tuition fee should be drawn in favour of the colleges. At the same time, the State government admitted to having no mechanism in place to keep a check on such cases.