Andhra Pradesh - Guntur   

Delay in fee reimbursement puts students in a fix

Guntur: Sandhya Rani, name changed, has come all the way from Visannapet in Krishna district with high hopes of pursuing a post graduation in Chemistry at a self-financed P.G College at Sattenapalli. The fee reimbursement scheme introduced by the State Government in 2008 helped her get admission in the college in 2009 without paying a single rupee.

One year passed by, the college management which kept silent all the while, suddenly decided to get tough with the students.

The poor student faced the humiliation of being twice evicted from the classroom. She was twice summoned to the director's chambers in July and asked to cough up the fees or else leave the college.

The girl pleaded that her scholarship amount is due from the Government and her father went around government officers asking them to convince the college management.

The college management stuck to its stand. Finally, the girl paid the first year fee amounting to Rs.20,000 and started attending classes again.

This is the fate being shared by hundreds of students belonging to weaker sections, who have been pursuing higher education in various colleges. Most private colleges are forcing the students to cough up the fees, in spite of standing orders from the Collector and Social Welfare Department.

The delay in reimbursement of post-metric scholarships arrears for the financial year 2009-2010 has put future of students in a quandary.

Out of the total budget requirement of Rs.68.43 crores, the State Government has released just Rs.30.06 crore, which the Social Welfare Department used to clear the arrears of 2008-2009 and for renewal of scholarships for 2009-2010.

Maintenance fee

The delay in sanctioning refund of tuition fees for 2009-2010 which amounted to Rs.25.01 crore for 37,625 students and Rs.13.34 crore towards maintenance grants for 32,826 students has put the students in a tight spot.

The Government is yet to release Rs.11.82 crore towards tuition fee reimbursement, while it has yet to release amount towards maintenance fees.

Joint Director of Social Welfare P.C.P. Raju reacted strongly to the incident of a girl being asked to leave the class room and said action would be initiated against the college management on the basis of a complaint filed by the girl or her parents.

The Joint Director of Social Welfare said every eligible student would get scholarship debited in his/her account shortly.

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