Letter from Bangalore: Parents call for rational fee structure

The burgeoning Indian middle class raised its eyebrows when the tuition fees for engineering courses in Karnataka, as announced by the private college managements, nearly doubled.

But, the latest announcement by the managements of private medical colleges has left parents of prospective candidates in a daze. Merit students may have to pay a maximum of Rs50,000 per annum instead of Rs16,000.

Worse still is that those who do not get under the merit quota, which itself is still a significant part of the imbroglio between the government and private managements, would have to pay anywhere between Rs250,000 to Rs300,000 per annum as against Rs110,000 paid last year.

The amount is yet to get ratified by Chief Minister S.M. Krishna's cabinet when it meets on April 22, to decide on the number of seats that the government would like to have control on and the "rational fee structure," as the Supreme Court had termed the government's responsibility in its verdict last year.

And, its decision is bound to make an impact in the southern states of India, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Pondi-cherry as well as the western state of Maharashtra, because these states follow the model of admission and fee structure enunciated by India's biggest higher education industry, Karnataka.

Two weeks ago, the managements of private engineering colleges and a cabinet sub-committee had agreed on sharing the 30,000 seats in 100 engineering colleges on a 50:50 basis with a merit quota seat priced at Rs20,000 and a non-merit seat priced at anywhere between Rs40,000 to Rs60,000.

But, the talks on sharing of about 4,000 seats in medical colleges and 3,000 seats in dental colleges have now reached a stalemate.

Private managements unilaterally announced a fee structure which, they threaten, would be implemented if the government does not agree to take a 25 per cent stake in the seats. The government wants a replica of the share in engineering courses.

"A study of government medical colleges showed that between 1994 and 1997, the government spent Rs317,000 per student per year. Today, costs have gone up so much that each medical college pays an electricity bill of Rs5,00,000 to Rs7,00,000. It is not possible to run a medical college," says R.L. Jalappa, a Congress MP and a representative of the private medical college managements association.

Earlier, private managements used to manage their economics of running the institution by charging Rs1.8 million to Rs2 million from the non-resident Indians, who constituted 15 per cent of the total number of seats.

"Now, we cannot cross subsidise in this manner. The Supreme Court has struck down the NRI quota," adds Jalappa.

So, what is the choice before the government to ensure that the deprived social classes like the backward classes and the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes get higher education at a reasonable cost?

"It could either allocate Rs1 billion for subsidsing professional degrees or accept the 25 per cent seats that we are offering to the government. Or, the government could take over all the private colleges and run it. Replacing a tube in a CT Scan machine costs Rs1.6 million" says Jalappa.

And, the government seems still undecided on its course of action to counter the private managements.

"Last year, Karnataka had 8,500 vacant seats, Andhra Pradesh had 24,000 vacant seats, Tamil Nadu had 15,000 vacant seats in professional courses. Do you think private managements can charge Rs300,000 a year and get candidates to their colleges? They will come around," says a minister on condition of anonymity.

The only aspect that would force the government to take an early decision is the directive of the Medical Council of India (MCI) that has fixed July 31 as the date on which all admissions must be completed and classes should begin on August 1.

Failure to do so would mean that the student, not the management, would have to pay Rs50,000 fine to the MCI.

There are no indications as to what report the Cabinet sub committee would submit to the Cabinet when it meets today.

Krishna, however, has kept his cards close to his chest. His decision would set the trend for professional courses in southern India and Maharashtra.