Bengaluru (The Hindu): In the last decade, fee hike in private engineering, medical and dental colleges ranges from 80 per cent to 290 per cent

Karnataka might take pride in being a hub of professional education, but it comes at a heavy price. The cost of professional education over 10 years has gone through the roof with the increase in fees in private engineering, dental and medical colleges across various categories ranging from 80 per cent to 290 per cent.

In 2004-2005, the annual fee for an engineering course under the government quota was Rs. 15,000; now it is Rs. 55,000. The steepest hike in the COMEDK quota is in the dental category where the fee has gone up from Rs. 1 lakh to Rs. 3.9 lakh.

This academic year has seen the steepest increase in fees in dental and medical course with the hike ranging from 27 per cent to 41 per cent. While the medical and dental fees under the government quota and under the COMEDK quota saw no increase between 2006-2007 and 2011-2012, the fee has been rising significantly since 2015-2016.

While parents and students say that professional education is becoming increasingly unaffordable, college managements argue that they need to increase the fee to keep up with the cost of teaching resources, infrastructure and basic facilities. Private colleges claim that the amount they spend per student is ‘much more’ than the fees paid by students under the government and COMEDK quotas.

M.K. Panduranga Setty, secretary, Karnataka Unaided Private Engineering Colleges’ Association (KUPECA), who runs R.V. College of Engineering, defended the hike. He claimed to be spending Rs. 3.8 lakh per student in the engineering college and Rs. 6 lakh per student in R.V. Dental College. “Getting good teachers is very difficult. Good faculty with a PHD degree demand around Rs. 1.5 lakh per month. Besides this, we have to pay for infrastructural costs,” he said.

No relief for students

Besides paying the amount stipulated in the fee structure, students will also have to cough up extra fees that college managements seek under various sub-heads, including hostel fee, placement fee, language as well as health and check-up fees. Although the government appoints a one-man committee to oversee admissions into professional courses, the committee has not offered any relief to students as colleges continue to charge ‘extra fees’.