MBBS fees down, but capitation may return
With More Candidates Clearing NEET, Seats At Deemed Univs Could Attract Premium
Pushpa.Narayan@timesgroup.com
Times of India 09.06.2018
The Madras high court order on capping tuition fees for MBBS courses in deemed universities at ₹13 lakh a year could be a double whammy for medical aspirants in Tamil Nadu. They may lose many seats to higher ranked students from other states or end up paying an illegal capitation fee during admission.
Since 2017, NEET-based admission to the eight deemed universities in TN is being done by the New Delhi-based Directorate General of Health Services through centralised online counselling. After two rounds of counselling and mop-up, vacant seats are returned to the varsities. These seats have to be filled on merit as per the rank list provided by the directorate.
Educational consultants have warned students and parents that all deemed varsities would jack up the “illegal” capitation fee. The environment, they said, was fertile as 13,000 more students have cleared NEET compared to 2017 without much increase in the actual number of seats.
“With costs going down, students from other states may seek admission in TN and the number of seats returned to the varsity will be lower than last year. We are already asking parents to reserve seats with a ₹5 lakh advance. Soon, capitation will go up to at least ₹15 lakh,” said one of the brokers who promised admission in at least three deemed universities in Chennai.
Another broker, who identified himself as Prasad of Church Street in Bengaluru, said there was a high demand for admission in TN varsities among students from other states. “So far, cost has been high in Tamil Nadu. Many students who enquired wanted to know if the tuition fee would come down,” he said.
Most deemed universities said the ₹13 lakh fee was too low to run the institution. “We charge ₹20 lakh per year because the overheads for a medical college are huge. We have 250 beds and every day we treat at least 4,000 patients for free. We can’t increase charges for patients who pay. Where do we cut cost to make for the reduction in tuition fee?” said Ramachandra Medical College and Research Institute dean Dr S Anandan.
A consortium of deemed universities would meet in New Delhi to decide on the next course of action, he said. The colleges may have to move the Supreme Court.
Institutions like SRM Medical College have put out public notices warning students and parents against fake webpages and illegal agents. “The official website of SRM University www.srmuniv.ac.in is the only website for admissions. Also admissions.india@srmuniv.ac.in is the official email ID for any communications related to admission,” it said.
But for parents, the travails have just begun. “NEET has made it difficult for us to plan for admissions. When admissions were based on Class XII results, we knew if our children would make it to government or selffinancing colleges, or deemed university. Today, we don’t even know where we stand,” said S Rajaraman, father of an MBBS aspirant. “It’s good the court reduced the fee. But we hope there is a system in place to ensure there is no capitation,” he said.
TIMES VIEW
Bringing down fee for MBBS courses at deemed universities is a welcome step, but the judiciary should ensure the state and Centre put a system in place to prevent institutions from collecting capitation or overlook students with merit. While NEET was brought in to ensure students across boards have a level-playing field, deemed universities were given autonomy over fee fixation. Consequently, the cost of an MBBS course in TN went up to ₹1 crore. This year, when Directorate General of Health Services returns vacant seats to universities, it should ask them to submit detailed reports to the Medical Council of India, UGC and the Union health ministry. A fee-and-admission committee under a retired judge should monitor the admission process.
Deemed varsities say the ₹13 lakh ceiling fixed by the high court would make it difficult to run an institution
With More Candidates Clearing NEET, Seats At Deemed Univs Could Attract Premium
Pushpa.Narayan@timesgroup.com
Times of India 09.06.2018
The Madras high court order on capping tuition fees for MBBS courses in deemed universities at ₹13 lakh a year could be a double whammy for medical aspirants in Tamil Nadu. They may lose many seats to higher ranked students from other states or end up paying an illegal capitation fee during admission.
Since 2017, NEET-based admission to the eight deemed universities in TN is being done by the New Delhi-based Directorate General of Health Services through centralised online counselling. After two rounds of counselling and mop-up, vacant seats are returned to the varsities. These seats have to be filled on merit as per the rank list provided by the directorate.
Educational consultants have warned students and parents that all deemed varsities would jack up the “illegal” capitation fee. The environment, they said, was fertile as 13,000 more students have cleared NEET compared to 2017 without much increase in the actual number of seats.
“With costs going down, students from other states may seek admission in TN and the number of seats returned to the varsity will be lower than last year. We are already asking parents to reserve seats with a ₹5 lakh advance. Soon, capitation will go up to at least ₹15 lakh,” said one of the brokers who promised admission in at least three deemed universities in Chennai.
Another broker, who identified himself as Prasad of Church Street in Bengaluru, said there was a high demand for admission in TN varsities among students from other states. “So far, cost has been high in Tamil Nadu. Many students who enquired wanted to know if the tuition fee would come down,” he said.
Most deemed universities said the ₹13 lakh fee was too low to run the institution. “We charge ₹20 lakh per year because the overheads for a medical college are huge. We have 250 beds and every day we treat at least 4,000 patients for free. We can’t increase charges for patients who pay. Where do we cut cost to make for the reduction in tuition fee?” said Ramachandra Medical College and Research Institute dean Dr S Anandan.
A consortium of deemed universities would meet in New Delhi to decide on the next course of action, he said. The colleges may have to move the Supreme Court.
Institutions like SRM Medical College have put out public notices warning students and parents against fake webpages and illegal agents. “The official website of SRM University www.srmuniv.ac.in is the only website for admissions. Also admissions.india@srmuniv.ac.in is the official email ID for any communications related to admission,” it said.
But for parents, the travails have just begun. “NEET has made it difficult for us to plan for admissions. When admissions were based on Class XII results, we knew if our children would make it to government or selffinancing colleges, or deemed university. Today, we don’t even know where we stand,” said S Rajaraman, father of an MBBS aspirant. “It’s good the court reduced the fee. But we hope there is a system in place to ensure there is no capitation,” he said.
TIMES VIEW
Bringing down fee for MBBS courses at deemed universities is a welcome step, but the judiciary should ensure the state and Centre put a system in place to prevent institutions from collecting capitation or overlook students with merit. While NEET was brought in to ensure students across boards have a level-playing field, deemed universities were given autonomy over fee fixation. Consequently, the cost of an MBBS course in TN went up to ₹1 crore. This year, when Directorate General of Health Services returns vacant seats to universities, it should ask them to submit detailed reports to the Medical Council of India, UGC and the Union health ministry. A fee-and-admission committee under a retired judge should monitor the admission process.
Deemed varsities say the ₹13 lakh ceiling fixed by the high court would make it difficult to run an institution