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Latest News |
| 22nd
July 2010 / Times of India / Mumbai Edition |
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Unaided college students have to shell out a bomb
Mumbai: As if the race to get into Class XI wasn’t
intense enough, enrolling in a junior college just got
dearer. This year, the number of unaided seats in junior
colleges has matched that of aided seats in city colleges.
This translates into the fact that 50% students will be
forced to shell out thousands of bucks.
Government data shows that 1.25 lakh seats are now unaided
and an equal number are publicly funded. So picture this:
If you apply for commerce and make it to K C College and
are lucky enough to get into the aided section, you will
merely pay an annual fee of Rs 745. However, if you are
allotted a seat in the unaided section, be ready to cough
up Rs 10,745 per year.
“We charge a higher fee for the unaided section
as we have a totally new set of teachers who are paid
a lot more than what the government pays. The faculty
members in the unaided section are the finest we have,’’
said Manju Nichani, principal of K C College, Churchgate.
So, if you are assigned a slot in S M Shetty College,
Powai, be ready to pay Rs 40,000 to study science (computers).
In comparison, it is cheaper to study Arts in the prestigious
St Xavier’s College (Rs 330) than the little-known
Aisha English Junior College in Govandi which charges
Rs 4,000. Or get into Prerna Science College, Mahalaxmi,
and pay Rs 9,600. Lack of funds & low salaries DRIVE
GREAT FEE DIVIDE Colleges Wanting To Expand Are Left With
Little Option But To Start Expensive Unaided Divisions
For colleges wanting to expand now, there is no option
but to start unaided divisions. The growth of unaided
seats in Mumbai has been phenomenal; since 2000, the state
government stopped giving approvals for aided divisions
to colleges wanting to expand their student intake. Managements
wanting to start new colleges also had to go the unaided
way.
However, on some campuses, the divide is stark. T Shiware,
principal of Hinduja College which has an aided and unaided
commerce section, said, “In order to get good staff
for the unaided division, we need to pay them Sixth Pay
Commission salaries equal to what teachers in the aided
section get. That’s why the fees are higher for
our unaided classes. Our unaided section is also air-conditioned.’’
It’s an irony, of sorts, but computer science and
electronics, which are the most popular streams among
students opting for science are not supported by the government.
It’s little wonder, then, that several colleges
have converted the aided seats into partiallyunaided ones,
with the state paying for all subjects except for computer
science and electronics. For instance, at D G Ruparel
College in Matunga, “unaided-computer science in
aided-science’’ costs Rs 8,580. “We
have the lowest fees among all colleges because we don’t
revise them every year,’’ said Ruparel College
principal Pradeep Kulkarni.
That, however, is not the case in most other colleges
acros the city. In Thakur Vidya Mandir, for example, the
fee for computer science stands at a relatively high Rs
35,570.
A recently-started science college is charging Rs 50,000.
“The Maharashtra government has no control on the
unaided colleges. Most revise their fees every one to
two years reasoning inflationary costs. Many of these
colleges admit students even before the government admission
begins,’’ said a principal on conditions of
anonymity.
There is, however, some respite for financially weaker
students who are not choosy about the college they want
to get into. “While filling out admission forms,
they need to ensure that they enter the code for the aided
section of colleges alone if they can’t afford getting
into an unaided course,” said a government official.
He added: “Also for students who eventually do not
get a college of their choice, the online system will
first look for a seat in an aided college in the zone
of their choice and only if all such seats are unavailable
will the student be placed in an unaided college.’’
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