The protracted tug-of-war over the fees of private engineering colleges finally came to a head at mid-night, 25/26 August 2012, as the state government released the fee-structure for 881 colleges all over the state.
The verdict? AP's top engineering colleges will be populated only by the affluent, despite their qualifications, as the annual fees for 67 colleges get fixed at anywhere between Rs. 51,800 and Rs. 1,05,000, based on the quality of education and infrastructure.
578 other colleges, which submitted their undertakings to the AFRC (Admission and Fee Regulatory Committee) accepting the fee structure, will be charging a uniform fee of Rs. 35,000.
The fee-hike has also touched other courses - namely B-Pharmacy, Pharma D, and B Arch - the fees for which will range from Rs. 62,600 to Rs. 91,700.
Here's a lowdown on how much you can be expected to shell out if you wish to study in Hyderabad's top engineering institutes.
Chaitanya Bharathi Institute of Technology - Rs. 1,05,000
Vasavi College of Engineering - Rs. 98,700
VNR Vignan Jyothi Institute of Engineering and Technology - Rs. 88,900
Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Technology - Rs. 84,600
Muffakam Jah College of Engineering & Technology - Rs. 83,600
Bharat Institute Of Engineering And Technology - Rs. 79,100
Sultan-Ul-Uloom College Of Pharmacy - Rs. 91,700
Read the GO on the engineering fee structure in Andhra Pradesh (2012) here.
Who will be affected the worst by this turn of events? Thousands of bright students who had previously been enabled by the government's reimbursements of Rs. 31,000 to study in colleges like Chaitanya Bharathi Institute of Technology, Vasavi Engineering College, and several others. Although the fees themselves have been pushed up to colossal proportions, the reimbursement has only gone up to Rs. 35,000. This means that the students can either cough up the extra money, or kiss goodbye to their tech dreams.
Another consequence of the GO is the scrapping of the management quota, which means that students who haven't quite managed to make the cut with their EAMCET ranks will find it even harder to get though.
The amount charged, however, is subject to the colleges using their funds to pay their staff, teaching/non-teaching, as per the Sixth Pay Commission set by the AICTE (All India Council for Technical Education). Any college found defaulting will not only have to cut their fees, but will also come under legal action.
Ironically enough, the colleges themselves seem apprehensive about implementing the new fees this year. Thanks to the delay in EAMCET counselling, about one lakh seats are expected to go empty due to a large number of students opting to study in other states. Factor the high fees, the low number of pass-outs, and the absence of convener quota, and it could mean that the institutes could face some heavy losses in admissions this year.
With the fee-structure issue out of the way, the intermediate pass-outs who've been gathering cobwebs for months can finally get busy, as the counseling commences on 30 August 2012.