Wednesday could bring an end to months of speculation about the admissions to professional courses in the State and the fee that students would be paying. Government officials and private college management representatives held talks on Tuesday in which the draft consensual agreements were discussed. Importantly, both parties appear to have arrived at an agreement as far as the fee structure is concerned.
Sources confirmed to The Hindu that the fee for undergraduate medical courses will be hiked up to Rs. 55,000 from the existing Rs. 46,000 for students admitted into government-quota seats in private colleges. However, there is no clarity yet on whether there will be a hike in fee for government colleges as well. This comes close on the heels of a hike in fee for postgraduate medical courses.
As for engineering, college management representatives present at Tuesday’s talks claimed that two slabs had been agreed on. What has been discussed is only a marginal increase up to Rs. 45,000 and Rs. 50,000 from the earlier Rs. 38,090 and Rs. 41,590.
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“Those colleges charging government-quota students Rs. 45,000 will be allowed to charge Rs. 1.6 lakh for the Consortium of Medical, Engineering and Dental Colleges of Karnataka (COMEDK) quota. The colleges that charge Rs. 50,000 for government-quota seats will have to charge up to Rs. 1.1 lakh for the COMEDK quota,” a source said.
Significantly, management representatives said nothing has been said about the ‘other fee’ which has caused considerable amount of debate in the past.
The signing of the pact on Wednesday could end all speculation though. It was only on Monday that the government announced its decision to amend the Karnataka Professional Educational Institutions (Regulation of Admission and Determination of Fee) Act, 2006, to incorporate the consensual agreement.
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