The Hindu : Kerala News : How the fee was worked out

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Saturday, May 22, 2004

Kerala

Kerala

How the fee was worked out

By Our Staff Reporter

KOTTAYAM, MAY 21. The K. T. Thomas Committee had considered only recurring expenditure to arrive at the fee structure it announced here on Friday.

According to documents, the fixed costs on buildings for the engineering colleges has been put at Rs. 660 lakhs and cost towards equipment, Rs. 380 lakhs. Furniture and library would cost another Rs. 240 lakhs to the management. However, the Committee dismissed the plea to pass the fixed costs to the students.

With each of the colleges providing four streams of specialisation, the total number of students per year would be 240 (at the rate of 60 students per batch). For a four-year period, the institution would have a strength of 960 students. The committee took the total consumable and miscellaneous recurring expenditure and divided it among the 960 students. The fee structure also allows for reasonable surplus for development at the rate of 10 per cent of the total recurring expenditure.

The fee also provides for cost of raw materials, consumables, education tour, industrial visits, guest lectures, stationary, sports, health, cultural activities, vehicle running etc. A sum of Rs.48 lakhs has been provided for expenditure under these heads, which amounts to a per capita expenditure of Rs. 5,000.

The recurring expenditure arrived at by providing for depreciation, building, equipment, furniture and library maintenance, and expenditure on power, water and communications has been put at Rs. 3,37,66,400. After providing for a 10 per cent surplus for development the total annual recurring expenditure for an engineering college has been put at Rs. 371.43 lakhs. This has been divided among 960 students and rounded to the nearest hundred to arrive at the figure of Rs. 38,700 - the annual fee for engineering courses.

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