Fee Hike! Maha Govt permits Private institutes to Charge 5 Times More for UG, PG Ayurveda, Homeopathy, Unani courses
Mumbai: Private colleges in Maharashtra have received the State Government's permission to charge up to five times more than the regular fees set by the Fee Regulatory Authority (FRA) for the management quota undergraduate and postgraduate seats in Ayurvedic, Homeopathy, and Unani Medicine courses.
Due to this revised fee structure, which shall be applicable from the academic year 2024-2025, the fees for these seats under the management and Non-Resident Indian (NRI) quota at self-financed medical colleges can increase by around 15 per cent.
Therefore, the revised fees for the management quota seats in BAMS, Homeopathy, and Unani courses could be as high as Rs 13.5 lakh, whereas, the normal fees for the general category seats is around Rs 2.75 lakh.
As per the notification issued by the Government in this regard, the fee structure was revised after a request from the association of private, unaided medical colleges in Maharashtra.
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Hindustan Times has reported that as per the previous rules, the colleges were allowed to charge only two times of the fee amount approved by FRA for general admission.
The Government's decision of increasing the fees has sparked backlash from the aspiring students, their parents and students organisations as they have argued that this fee hike will make a significant number of medical seats unaffordable for many aspirants, Indian Express has reported. "The fee structure for BAMS, Unani, and Homeopathy under the institution quota is set to skyrocket with this decision. The government is making these seats inaccessible to middle-class students," as aspirant told the Daily.
Meanwhile, critics have also questioned the viability of such high fees for BAMS, BHMS, BUMS courses, which are not as popular as mainstream MBBS courses.
According to education activists, this year the high fees for MBBS courses at private medical colleges had led many students to opt for BAMS, BHMS courses instead.
Commenting on the matter, Sudha Shenoy, a medical education activist pointed out that due to the complications arising regarding the NEET UG results this year, the cutoff was higher than usual and this affected many aspiring medical students. "Now, the government seems to be shutting all doors for students, which is both unfair and one-sided," Shenoy added, further highlighting the fact that the State has not secured approval for additional MBBS seats from the National Medical Commission (NMC). This, coupled with the fee hike, is creating further troubles for both the medical aspirants and their parents.
"My daughter scored 501 in NEET, but with the current cutoff trends, it seems she won’t secure admission to MBBS or even BAMS in a government medical college. After reviewing our finances, we decided to opt for BAMS in a private college. We found a college in Sangli where the admission fee through the institutional quota was ₹6,00,000. However, the college has now issued a notice stating that the government will allow them to charge five times the original fee, meaning the students will have to pay the difference in the future," a parent told HT.
"According to the college’s website, students admitted through the institutional quota must currently pay ₹6,99,500 per year, while the regular fee is ₹2,81,500. For NRI students, the fee goes up to ₹11,17,500. With the new rules in place, these fees are expected to increase further," said another parent, who is seeking admission for their child to a medical college in Ahmednagar.
Speaking to HT, an official in the State Government admitted that the decision was not taken appropriately, adding that the State must consider the opinions of the parents before finalising the fee hike, whereas a one-sided decision was taken in favour of the management.
Further, a member of the FRA, Dharmendra Mishra, told HT that the panel follows a specific formula to finalise the fee structure for the college, adding, "If colleges charge three to five times the regular fees, they are required to report this as income in their financial statements, which many don’t follow regularly. We have learned that some colleges collect fees in cash without declaring it as income. To address this, the FRA will ask colleges to disclose the amount charged for management seats during the fee reconciliation process."
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