Colleges start fee refund for cancelled admissions

Colleges start fee refund for cancelled admissions

₹1,000 Processing Charge For Freeing Up Seats Post Oct 31

Zeeshan.Jawed@timesgroup.com

Kolkata: 20.11.2021

Colleges have started the process of refunding fees to candidates who have cancelled their admissions to undergraduate courses after securing admission in another college or university. Colleges have asked candidates who want to cancel their admission to submit a written application with payment details and date of cancellation. Some colleges have even sought explanation from these students for holding back the seat before ultimately deciding to cancel.

According to University Grants Commission norms, students who cancelled their admissions before October 31 will get a full refund. Anybody cancelling their admission after that will have to take a deduction of Rs 1,000 as processing fee.

At Maulana Azad College, candidates must submit the application for refund by November 30, principal Subhasis Dutta said. Candidates seeking refund of admission fee will have to write all the details about their admission and submit them at the entry gate of the college along with attested copies of bank challans, admission cancellation receipt and a cancelled cheque. The college has also requested the students to mention why they held back the seat for so long before cancelling, but this will not affect the fee refund.

Seth Anandram Jaipuria College, too, has started the process of refunding admission fee. “The students have mailed us the details. We are making the refunds,” said college principal Asok Mukhopadhyay.

Students scored high marks in all the board examinations this year on the basis of various computation methods that were used as examinations could not be held due to the second wave of the pandemic. At the time of application to undergraduate courses, students applied to multiple colleges and in different subjects, including those they weren’t to keen to study. As a result, seats in most colleges got blocked and students who actually wanted to pursue those subjects had to wait till the others cancelled their admissions. The education department had to extend the deadline for admission to undergraduate courses multiple times because colleges could not fill up their seats. Some colleges have again opened their admission portals to invite fresh applications to fill the vacancies.

“Since the government waived application fee, students applied to several colleges and subjects. That locked our seats. Towards the end of September, almost 20% seats were vacant when students finally started cancelling admissions. Thankfully, the government extended the deadline and we could fill up some seats,” said a principal of a government college who did not wish to be named.