Even as the Government announced the engineering admission schedule, it is yet to take a decision on finalising the fee structure for engineering courses this year.
Education Minister Sabitha Indra Reddy said the Telangana Admission and Fee Regulatory Committee (TAFRC) was yet to submit its report to the government and a final decision could be taken only after the report was received.
Meanwhile, the TAFRC seems to be taking its time in submitting the report after the parents expressed apprehensions over the reported huge hike in the existing fee. After completing the fee regulation exercise for this year, taking into account the financial statements submitted by the colleges, the TAFRC prepared its report fixing a minimum and maximum fee structure band.
Sources said the TAFRC wants to skip the fee enhancement this year citing non-functioning of the colleges for the last two years due to COVID and their expenditure figures reduced compared to previous years.
“The TAFRC is of the view that students should be spared from any increase this year as parents’ incomes suffered due to Coronavirus and also colleges spending much less on payment of salaries and maintenance as the colleges were closed for more than a year,” an official said. However, it wants to take a fresh revision next year and that would be applicable for the three-year period from then onwards.
Earlier, in its exercise, the Committee is said to have fixed the fee in the band of ₹45,000 and ₹1.73 lakh per annum depending on the colleges’ infrastructure and their expenditure. A lot of sought-after colleges demanded a huge hike but the committee preferred not more than 10% hike.
The non-submission of the report is also being linked to colleges approaching the court for revision as per the schedule. An official, however, said the government’s decision would be final.
