Pharmacy colleges in Telangana push for direct fee reimbursement to students amid dues | Hyderabad News
Hyderabad: Pharmacy aspirants eligible for fee reimbursement may have to pay the entire course fee upfront in the 2025–26 academic year as colleges, waiting for the state to clear pending dues, want the govt to transfer funds directly to students instead of institutions.The move comes after the govt failed to clear reimbursement dues for the past four years, leaving many private pharmacy colleges in a financial crunch. College managements say they can no longer afford to wait for payments and are asking students to pay the full fee at the time of admission, with the option to claim the money back from the govt later.There are about 70,000 students enrolled in B Pharm, Pharm D, and M Pharm courses across 113 pharmacy colleges. “Of the total students, 65% to 70% of them are eligible for fee reimbursement. How are we supposed to survive when the majority are not paying fees for years together?” questioned K Ramadas, honorary chairman, Telangana State Pharmacy Colleges Managements Association, adding that starting this year, they want the govt to release fee reimbursement or scholarship to students directly.“We don’t want to be in the middle and wait for years to get our fees,” he added. As per managements, the govt must clear dues of about Rs 550 crore to pharmacy colleges in Telangana. The fee for B Pharm is between Rs 31,000 and Rs 1.2 lakh per year, and for Pharm D the fee is between Rs 68,000 and Rs 1.3 lakh, and for M Pharm, it is Rs 1.1 lakh per annum. While students from SC and ST categories get full reimbursement, other eligible candidates, such as BCs, get minimum fees.“Because of the pending dues, we are unable to pay our teaching and non-teaching staff on time. This is resulting in many talented employees leaving their teaching careers and moving towards other jobs. Keeping the current situation in mind, we want students and their parents and the govt to implement our new proposal—paying directly to students,” said Pulla Ramesh Babu, general secretary of the association, adding that the govt should release pending dues in two to three instalments.Last year, about 9,000 students joined B Pharm first year and about 1,700 joined Pharm D first year. Officials from the Telangana Council of Higher Education, meanwhile, said that managements can make an appeal, but can’t take any decision. “This is a policy decision that needs to come from the govt,” said V Balakista Reddy, chairman, TGCHE.
