THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Complaints have come up against several self-financing nursing colleges in the State, accusing them of demanding fees highly in excess of what had been recommended by the K.T. Thomas Committee.

A student belonging to a Scheduled Caste, who has been allotted a Government seat for the BSc Nursing course in a self-financing college of nursing, has lodged a complaint with the authorities concerned, alleging that he has been directed to remit a sum of Rs.1,28,400, as against a maximum fee of Rs.62,000, recommended by the K. T. Thomas Committee.

The student, who has expressed his inability to meet the demand of the college management for such a high fee on account of financial constraints, is at the brink of losing his seat, allotted to him in the Centralised Allotment Process conducted by the Commissioner for Entrance Examinations.

The K.T. Thomas Committee had, after examining in detail all aspects relevant to the conduct of the four year-BSc degree course in nursing, arrived at a fee structure and notified the same on June 11, 2004.

Factors such as the salary component, annual repair and maintenance to buildings, equipment and furniture, depreciation of buildings, library updating, expenses on electricity, water and telephone and other office expenses, including materials and consumables, had been taken into account by the Committee before fixing the fees. There was also a provision of surplus for the development of the college.

It was based on all these aspects that the Committee arrived at a sum of Rs. 49,400, as annual fee per student of a self-financing college of nursing. In addition, a sum not exceeding Rs.10,000 has been allowed to be collected as refundable caution deposit, besides the fee to be remitted to the university concerned, for affiliation. Also, a student, when joining the college, will have to remit a reasonable amount as admission fee. All these together would have worked out to Rs. 62,000, on a near approximate calculation.

However, before deciding on the fee structure, the Committee had given the opportunity for the managements to submit a proposal detailing the pattern of fees. The Committee felt that the figures shown by the managements were only the projected sums for the coming years. The correctness of these figures could not be verified by the Chartered Accountant Member of the Committee. This member was also of the view that there was no previous data available to make a correct assessment of the proposal. The Committee, therefore, declined to approve the fee structure proposed by the managements.

There is another college of nursing that has demanded of its newly admitted students to pay up, a fee of Rs.1,14,000, which also included a sum of Rs. 10,000 towards fee for university affiliation. It may be recalled that there is no university in Kerala that charges such a huge sum from a student for affiliation.

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