Several days after classes began, the State government has announced a hike in fees for MBA and MCA courses in Government First Grade Colleges for the academic year 2024-25.
The State government revised the fees and issued an order on November 7, 2024. The Department of Collegiate Education (DCE) recently published the order on its website, leaving students and college administrations confused about paying additional fees.
Students have expressed objection to the government’s move to increase fees only for courses in Government First Grade Colleges under the jurisdiction of DCE, without increasing the fees for MCA and MBA courses in engineering colleges under the jurisdiction of the Department of Technical Education this year.
How it began
The State government started MBA and MCA postgraduate degree courses in many Government First Grade Colleges with necessary infrastructure and high student enrolment. Due to COVID-19 pandemic, the State government had not revised the fees since 2020-20 and the fees of previous years were continued in 2023-24 as well.
Apart from other fees, including examination fees fixed by the universities, the DCE fixed a total fee of ₹2,850, including application fee, admission fee, tuition fee, postgraduate department development fee, and others. In addition, the fee of ₹20,000 was continued for general category students pursuing MBA courses as in previous years.
Fee hike this year
The Commissioner of the Department of Collegiate Education had submitted a proposal to the State government for revision of fees of MBA and MCA courses in Government First Grade Colleges for the year 2024-25. The government, which accepted this request, issued an order increasing the fees.
As per the government order, excluding the examination fee and other university fees, the department has fixed it at ₹5,135, which includes application fee, admission fee, and other fees.
In addition, for the first time, an additional fee of ₹3,000 has been charged for the MSc (Computer Science, Microbiology, Biotechnology and Information Science) course, ₹6,000 for MCA, and ₹1,000 for MBA (Computer Science and Computer Applications) course in the name of users’ fee.
As a result, this year, students pursuing MBA and MCA courses in government degree colleges will have to pay fees ranging from ₹6,135 to ₹11,135, excluding the university fee. However, the fee of ₹20,000 has been continued for general category students pursuing MBA courses as in previous years.
Students’ objection
Admission to MBA and MCA courses in Government First Grade Colleges for the academic year 2024-25 has already been completed and classes have started.
“I have paid the fees fixed by the government and I am attending classes. The government has now revised the fees by a huge amount. We cannot afford to pay this. Even the college has not said anything about this so far. I am very confused,” said a student, who joined for the MCA course this year in a Government First Grade College in Bengaluru.
“The government recently issued the revised fee order. We collected the old fees from students and gave admission. The government has not informed anything about the collection of additional fees,” said the principal of a Government First Grade College.
Proposal awaited
Both the Department of Technical Education and the Department of Collegiate Education come under the Department of Higher Education. This year, the Technical Education Department submitted the proposal to the government to revise the fees of MCA and MBA courses in engineering colleges. However, the government rejected the proposal and continued the fees of last year.
Speaking to The Hindu, Apoorva, member leader of AIDSO, a student organisation, said: “Most of the students are from poor families. It is condemnable that the government has increased the fees. The government should immediately withdraw the fee revision order. Otherwise, a protest will be launched.”
Responding to the controversy, M.C. Sudhakar, Minister for Higher Education, said: ““I don’t know on what basis the fees have been revised for MBA and MCA courses in Government First Grade Colleges. Appropriate action will be taken to ensure that students are not burdened by this.”
Published – December 11, 2024 09:12 pm IST
