Students who have bagged seats in private medical or dental colleges are in a fix over payment of fees. Many claimed that the additional fees charged by private colleges are as high as ₹2 lakh.
“At the time of the pandemic when families are constrained financially either due to job loss or salary cuts, the State government has hiked fees. Now, some colleges are charging us even more,” said one student.
Students have to pay additional charges as published in the Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA) website under four categories – miscellaneous fees, transport fees, hostel fees and mess fees.
One student said that she had bagged a seat in a private college, which asked her to pay an additional fee of ₹1.99 lakh per year towards other expenses. “We understand that we have to pay for other expenses. But, charging an additional ₹2 lakh per annum is ridiculous. This is unaffordable for middle class families,” the student said.
As per the consensual agreement with the government, the colleges can charge ₹15,000 as miscellaneous expenditure and ₹30,000 as expenditure for the skill lab.
A student who bagged a dental seat said that they need to cap the hostel, mess, transportation and miscellaneous expenses so that they are affordable.
The fee for government quota seats in private colleges was hiked by 15% and that of institutional quota seats was increased by 25%. Students pointed out that paying such a huge amount in the midst of the pandemic would be very difficult as the finances of their parents had been severely affected due to COVID-19.
For this academic year, fees in private medical colleges are ₹1.28 lakh for government quota and ₹9.81 lakh for institutional quota seats. In private dental colleges, the fee for a government quota seat is ₹83,356 and that for an institutional quota seat is ₹6.66 lakh.
