With the beginning of the 2025-2026 academic season, students who have completed their Class 12 or intermediate education are now enrolling in various undergraduate streams, including Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech) and other technical-related courses across the country. But, concerns have arisen regarding private colleges exploiting students by charging fees higher than those approved by the respective state government or regulatory authorities. This isn't a new trend, as informed by the University Grants Commission (UGC) and the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), they have received a total of 2652 and 1625 fee-related complaints, respectively, during the last three years.

As academic year begins, questions surface over transparency in private college admissions Premium

With the beginning of the 2025-2026 academic season, students who have completed their Class 12 or intermediate education are now enrolling in various undergraduate streams, including Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech) and other technical-related courses across the country. But, concerns have arisen regarding private colleges exploiting students by charging fees higher than those approved by the respective state government or regulatory authorities. This isn't a new trend, as informed by the University Grants Commission (UGC) and the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), they have received a total of 2652 and 1625 fee-related complaints, respectively, during the last three years.

According to the All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) data, there are 5,495 standalone polytechnic/technical colleges, 505 state private universities, and 85 private deemed universities. Since education falls under the Concurrent List of the Constitution, the fee structure for private universities is decided by the norms/rules/regulations of the respective state government, and the fee for the colleges are laid down by their affiliating university as per existing policies.

Further, seats in private colleges across different States are typically divided into state quota and management quota. The state government fills the seats under the state quota through entrance exams such as the State Common Entrance Test (CET) or national-level exams like JEE Mains. Private colleges, on the other hand, are allowed to fill the management quota seats. Management quota seats are a set of seats reserved by private educational institutions for allocation, granting them autonomy, albeit in accordance with state guidelines. Only a limited percentage of seats are sanctioned under the management quota, and this percentage varies from state to state.

There are also private universities that fill their seats through their entrance examinations, such as Manipal, Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, Vellore Institute of Technology, SRM, and several others. Whatever the process, it often requires students to attempt multiple exams, navigate long waitlists while facing fee structures that are well beyond their means.

A farmer who recently enrolled his son in a private college affiliated with the Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Hyderabad (JNTUH), shared on the condition of anonymity that the institute charged a ₹14 lakh fee plus donation for the B.Tech in Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) program. The fee limit set by the Government of Telangana for the private college in question under JNTUH is ₹1,30,000 per annum, as per GO 37 issued in 2022. As per the fresh GO Ms. No. 26 dated 30.06.2025, the Government has decided to continue the fee fixed for the previous block period (2022–2025) for the academic year 2025–2026.

“I had no other choice,” the parent said. “Although my son qualified, he didn't secure a rank in the Telangana State Engineering, Agriculture & Medical Common Entrance Test (TS EAMCET).” He added, “This is not something we could afford. With the Kharif crop season underway, it was especially difficult to arrange such a large amount. We had to take a loan from a third party to meet the college's demand. And if you ask me why I did it, I only wished for a better future for him, through campus placements. I never had a second thought. The management told us the seats were filling fast and that we had just a couple of days to decide to put our son's name on the list under management quota.”

On the fee exploitation issue, a student body named Student Protection Forum has submitted a representation to the Telangana government to act against the private colleges for the exploitation. The president of the student body and Research Scholar at JNTUH, Javvaji Dileep, shared that many private colleges in the State affiliated with the JNTUH and others are exploiting students rampantly, and several students have reached out for help. This is happening particularly in private colleges that aggressively advertise campus placements and the reputation they have built around them.

Management Quota seats in unaided private colleges are 30% in the State. Mr. Dileep said, “These colleges are collecting huge donations from parents, which is in clear violation of admission norms and fee cap set by the Telangana Admission and Fee Regulatory Committee authority, but we are yet to see the concerned authorities act,” he said. He further added, “There are norms stating that the merit list for the management quota should be prepared in the same way as for the government quota, but this is rarely followed.”

A student who was recently admitted to a private engineering college affiliated with the Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Technical University in Uttar Pradesh said that he was guided by an agent to secure admission through a donation of ₹3 lakh in addition to an annual college fee of ₹1.5 lakh, under the 15 percent management quota available in the State. The fees is same for all the students, but donations are against the guidelines. “I didn't get a good rank, so I had to opt for this route,” he said. Sharing his experience of consulting multiple colleges, he added that some college staff themselves help students get onto the management quota list and bypass the waiting queue.

Further, a student in his third year at a private university in Tamil Nadu, which conducts its own entrance examination, said that he paid a donation of ₹4.5 lakh through university staff for his admission. In addition, he pays an annual fee of ₹4.75 lakh, the same as every other student at the university. He said, “Just filling out the admission form is enough to get in through the college if you don't score high enough in the entrance exam. But as you can see, the fees are even higher than those of the IITs.”

This is not a State-specific problem, but a pattern that is seen across States, says Abdul Wahab, State Secretary of Students' Federation of India (SFI), Uttar Pradesh, and a Ph.D. scholar at Delhi Ambedkar University. He shared, “Clearly, the intent of the State right now is twofold and quite contradictory. On one hand, it is cutting down funds for public universities and institutions. On the other hand, it is allowing private education spaces to grow unchecked. If you're financially capable, you're expected to go to a private institution. But if you can't afford that, you're left with the public education system, which is itself grappling with severe faculty shortages, deteriorating infrastructure, and poor placement rates, except in Institutes of National Importance.

Mr. Wahab further added, “Even if a student clears the entrance exams for these institutions, coaching is almost always necessary, and that, too, is expensive. So it becomes a multi-layered financial burden. What we are seeing is a loan-based, debt-driven system of higher education, something very close to the Western model, despite all the rhetoric about building a ‘Swadeshi' education system.”

As per the information of the Education Ministry presented in the Rajya Sabha, from 2017-2022, an average of around 40 per cent of seats in the undergraduate engineering institutions approved by AICTE have gone vacant. The Ministry said, the reasons are “filling up of seats in engineering institutes is dependent on the demand-supply situation, which is dependent on the location of the institutes, academic and infrastructural facilities therein, and the placement opportunities.”

The Parents Association of Andhra Pradesh (PAAP) has been urging the government to increase the number of seats in engineering colleges under public institutions and to release a white paper on the reports submitted by private institutions to the government and the AICTE.

PAAP State President Narahari Sikharam said there has been an increase in seats for courses such as Computer Science Engineering (CSE) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) in private institutions, which is attracting a greater number of students, whereas government colleges are lagging in this race. As a result, parents are inclined to prefer private colleges, often at the cost of paying donations, assuming that otherwise, they may be left unemployed or fall behind in the future.

Mr. Sikharam further said that before counselling is announced, a report must be submitted about infrastructure, and facilities available to increase the seats. Based on this report, the AICTE decides to increase seats. However, even before this process is completed, some colleges in Andhra Pradesh have already filled their management quota seats in certain courses, collecting lakhs of rupees in donations and fees from parents. “There shall be two government colleges within each district, with upgraded infrastructure and the capability to meet the demands on par with private colleges. Furthermore, admission and placement-related details shall be furnished on the website from time to time,” he added.

Dr. Anil Sadgopal, former professor, Head and Dean of the Faculty of Education at the University of Delhi, and a presidium member of the All India Forum for Right to Education (AIF-RTE), has long been a vocal critic of the growing privatisation of education in India. He strongly advocates for the right to education for all and insists that norms and standards must be enforced in publicly funded institutions instead of promoting privatisation. “The aim of education is social development, not profit-making,” he asserts. “Private colleges have always created problems. Money should never determine merit.”

Mr. Sadgopal argues that while universities should have academic autonomy, to decide what and how to teach, they should not be granted financial autonomy or a free hand that exploit students. “Education should never be about earning money. That's a violation of social justice and constitutional morality,” he says.

He emphasises that ensuring equitable access is a constitutional obligation of the states: “It is the responsibility of the states to ensure equitable access. Constitutional rights must be respected, not manipulated.” Criticising the centralisation of higher education and the rise of expensive entrance exams, Dr. Sadgopal recalls: “Since Independence, admissions have been based on state board Class 12 results. No one had to spend on coaching or entrance exams. But what changed everything?”

He points out that the current system excludes a large section of youth: “Poor and Bahujan students can't afford ₹10–20 lakh for coaching or donations for NEET. This system closes the doors to medical education for 85% of India's youth.” Dr. Sadgopal firmly believes this shift is against the constitutional idea envisioned when the Constitution was written. “It is not in the Constitution. It does not allow the central government to do all this. The central government intervened and tried to impose its way of doing things. Centralising higher education is a wrong idea.”

(Bhaskar Basava is an independent journalist based in Hyderabad, covering politics, human rights, and environmental issues, primarily from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. He is now expanding his work to include education across all States.)

Published - August 13, 2025 08:23 pm IST

education / admission/enrollment / College admission / engineering / engineering colleges / students / entrance examination

Source: The Hindu
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