The ‘extra fees’ menace is apparently not limited to professional courses; students in colleges affiliated to Bangalore University (BU), who have been admitted to postgraduate courses under the university quota too have alleged that they are being made to cough up unreasonable amounts for ‘services’ offered by the college.
Such students have taken up their grievances with the Vice-Chancellor and Registrar. One such student, a second year postgraduate science student in an affiliated college in Kalyan Nagar, said the college was asking her to pay Rs. 16,000 more than the Rs. 1,062 actual fee (she is a category 3A student). “Last year too they made me pay Rs. 7,000 extra,” she complained.
The extra fees is being charged under subheads similar to the ones in engineering courses — library, laboratory, and so on.
Reacting to the complaints, BU Vice-Chancellor B. Thimme Gowda said the varsity had heard that government colleges too were collecting an extra fees. “In some other colleges, they are charging Rs. 6,000 to Rs. 7,000. The main reason given is that they require funds to pay salaries to teachers,” he confessed.
Asked if there was a possibility of a ceiling on the extra fees, on the lines of the government-prescribed ceiling for professional courses (Rs. 20,000), he suggested Rs. 10,000.
He urged students to submit written complaints to the Registrar (Administration) of BU about any college collecting extra fees.
