Mumbai: State govt has directed Fee Regulatory Authority (FRA) to review its decision to charge three and five times the regular fees from students admitted under the institutional and NRI quotas in professional colleges, respectively, following complaints from several student representatives.
While a rollback of the decision, taken by FRA in 2023, would provide relief to students seeking admission under these quotas, it could also have a larger impact on the fee structure for students admitted through the merit quota. The higher fees charged from students under the NRI and institutional quotas currently help cross-subsidise the fees paid by students admitted on merit.
Sources claimed that FRA was asked to review it based on the data of institutions charging additional fees under these two quotas. An official, however, said that currently only students who can afford the higher fees opt for institutional and NRI quotas. Rolling back the decision could make the fees unaffordable for students taking admission through merit seats too, he added. Fee revision applications from private, unaided professional institutions will be submitted only by the end of Oct to FRA. Therefore, any decision in this regard will apply only to the next academic session.
For medical, dental and allied health courses, FRA caps fees at three times the regular fee for management quota and five times for NRI quota. No such cap existed for other professional courses such as engineering, management, pharmacy and agriculture until last year.
Vaibhav Thorat, secretary of Shiv Sena, wrote to MLC Sachin Ahir, who subsequently asked FRA to look into the complaint. “Students seek admission under the management quota after missing out on merit seats by just one or two percentage points. Many of them cannot afford to pay three times the regular fee under the quota. Moreover, management quota seats are also filled on the basis of merit. Why should students have to bear this additional financial burden?” he asked, seeking a rollback of the decision.
Kalpesh Yadav from Yuva Sena also highlighted the issue. Yadav, in a letter to the higher education department, mentioned that the decision prioritises the financial interests of educational institutions over the interests of students. “Charging three times the fees from students availing the same academic facilities, in the same college, in the same course, from the same teachers, solely on the basis of the admission method, is creating an unreasonable disparity in fees,” he said. “While the Supreme Court permits higher fees for NRI quota admissions, the govt should reconsider allowing triple fees for Indian students under the institution-level quota,” he added in the letter.
