Engineering colleges that do not refund excess fees may lose affiliation

Explanation sought from colleges against whom students have complained: VTU Registrar

In a stern message to engineering colleges that do not refund “excess” fees to students, the Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU) has said such colleges will be at the risk of losing affiliation.

Vice-Chancellor of the university Karisiddappa told The Hindu the university had sent a circular warning colleges managements that those which had collected excess fees had to refund the amount to students at the earliest.

This was done in the light of the Admission Overseeing Committee’s report that it had received complaints against 26 engineering colleges for allegedly withholding documents of students or not refunding fees when students discontinued from the college or if they had surrendered seats during one of the rounds of counselling.

H.N. Jagannatha

Reddy, Registrar (Administration), VTU, said, “We have sought an explanation from the colleges against whom students have complained. Once they respond, we will decide the next course of action.”

Students in government colleges have to pay fee of ₹19,090 a year, while those who enrol in private engineering colleges under the government quota have to pay ₹50,500 or ₹56,000. The fee for the Consortium of Medical, Engineering and Dental Colleges of Karnataka (COMEDK) quota seat is either ₹1.21 lakh or ₹1.7 lakh a year based on which category they belong to.

However, several colleges have been charging “excess” fees in various categories such as placement training fee, language lab fees, building fees, and excursion fee.