Review fee hike curb: Private medical institutes to Maharashtra FRA

The state Fee Regulating Authority (FRA) has again received requests from private medical and dental institutes, seeking changes to the existing rule which limits

The state Fee Regulating Authority (FRA) has again received requests from private medical and dental institutes, seeking changes to the existing rule which limits fee hikes.

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The Association of Management of Unaided Private Medical and Dental Colleges (AMUPMDC) has written a letter to FRA, hoping the authority considers the money they charge non-residential Indian (NRI) and management quota as fees, instead of considering the amount as income.

A hearing was held at the FRA office on Wednesday and while a final decision on this matter is still pending, majority of FRA officials are in favour of continuing the rule.

“Private medical and dental colleges charge unacceptable amounts in the name of fees from their management and NRI quota students, especially since they charge four or five times the fees charged by a state quota student. This amount will be deducted from their annual expenditure for the year and we will accordingly allow them to charge fees the next academic year,” said an official from FRA, on the condition of anonymity.

Last year, colleges were allowed to charge four and five times the state quota fees for their management and non-residential Indian (NRI) quotas, respectively. The FRA had ruled that the ‘excess’ fees charged by colleges from students admitted under 35% management and 15% NRI quota during the 2018-19 year should be used to reduce the fees for 2019-20.

Most medical colleges in the state claim to incur an annual expenditure anywhere between Rs 30 to Rs 60 crore. The FRA allows colleges to earn and additional 10% towards profit and 10% towards inflation costs. “The institutes have shared problems faced by them and have requested that our rules be tweaked accordingly. We’ve heard all parties and will soon take a decision on the same,” said Maanikrao Gursal, secretary, state FRA.

The FRA decides the fees of all professional courses offered at private unaided institutes in the state. It follows an expense-based model to calculate the fees, where the overall expenditure of the college is equally divided by the number of students at the institute to arrive at the tuition fee. The colleges are also allowed to charge a development fee, which is capped at 10% of the tuition fee, from students for new infrastructure development.