Chennai: Citing that fees for govt quota BE, BTech seats have not been revised for the last eight years in Tamil Nadu, engineering colleges have urged the govt to increase the minimum fees for govt quota seats from 50,000 to 79,600.
In a recent representation to higher education minister Govi Chezhiaan, the consortium of self-financing professional, arts and science colleges in Tamil Nadu urged him to fix 79,600 as the minimum fees, as determined by Srikrishna commission in 2021. The maximum fee fixed by the panel for BE, BTech courses was 1,89,800.
The colleges now collect 85,000 for management quota (87,000 for accredited courses) and 50,000 for govt quota seats (55,000 for accredited courses).
The previous revision came about in 2017-18 academic year. A few top colleges were allowed to collect 1.25 lakh for management quota seats after they submitted their balance sheet to the fee committee.
“The commission had also recommended increasing the fees by 5% every year. To provide quality education to students and in the interest of faculty members, the state govt should increase the fees for govt quota seats and management quota seats. All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has recommended implementing the seventh pay commission’s scale of pay for faculty members,” the representation stated. It also wanted the tuition fees to be increased by 7.5% every year.
“Of our total expenditure, 70% to 80% is spent on faculty salaries. Without revision of fees, it is difficult to update lab equipment and set up new facilities. The revision would help colleges provide quality education,” said R M Kishore, a member of the consortium.
The state fee committee, headed by Justice R Pongiappan, invited proposals from individual colleges for the 2024-25 academic year. It asked the colleges to submit financial statements, the latest income tax assessment order, and TDS details for revising the fee from the colleges that offer BE, BTech, MBA, MCA, ME, MTech, and MArch courses.
Colleges had asked for a 20% increase for the 2024-25 academic year. However, the tuition fee was not revised. Last year, 1.79 lakh BE, BTech govt quota seats were available for single-window counselling and around one lakh seats were filled after the three rounds of engineering counselling.