Engineering colleges seek fee hike for govt quota BE, BTech seats

Chennai: With no fee revision for the last nine years amid surging expenditure, including salaries of faculty members, the engineering colleges have urged the state govt to revise the fees for govt quota seats.

Colleges have to allot 65% of their intake as govt quota seats, which will be filled through engineering counselling. The fee for govt quota seats was fixed in 2017-18 at ₹50,000 (₹55,000 for accredited courses).

“Despite a surge in interest to study engineering, many colleges struggle to provide quality education as the fee for govt seats has not been revised in the past nine years. The quota fees should be increased to ₹1 lakh,” said P Selvaraj, secretary of the Consortium of Self-Financing Professional, Arts and Science Colleges in Tamil Nadu.

In 2022, the All India Council for Technical Education’s (AICTE) fee panel, headed by Justice Srikrishna, recommended a minimum of ₹79,600 and a maximum of ₹1,89,800 as govt quota seat fee.

“The fee fixation committee hiked the fees for professional courses such as BSc nursing, but the govt quota fees were not hiked for many years despite several representations. Meanwhile, Anna University is urging engineering colleges to pay faculty members as per the seventh pay commission scale. So, the state govt should revise the fee for govt quota seats,” he said.

The consortium is planning to meet chief minister C Joseph Vijay before the start of engineering counselling with this demand, he added.

“The tuition fee for a govt quota engineering seat is lower than the LKG fee collected in many schools. The fees should be revised to ease the financial burden of the colleges. With the current financial situation, it has become very difficult to attract quality faculty members,” said B Chidambararajan, director of SRM Valliammai Engineering College.

The engineering colleges now collect ₹85,000 for management quota. A few top colleges were allowed to collect ₹1.25 lakh for management quota seats.

As many as 2,45,220 students will compete for around 1.8 lakh seats available in 465 engineering colleges this year. The engineering rank list will be released on June 29, and the counselling is expected to begin in the second week of July.