Colleges must refund entire fees for migrating students: UGC

Institutes could lose eligibility for UGC grant, university affiliation if they fail to refund fees

The University Grants Commission (UGC) has warned colleges and universities that if they fail to refund the “entire fees” of students seeking to migrate from one institute to another during the ongoing admission process, they will lose their eligibility to receive funds from the Commission as well as their university affiliations.

The warning comes as the delay in declaration of Common University Entrance Test (CUET) results held up the admission process this year, forcing many anxious students to seek admission at private institutes. CUET was conducted by the National Testing Agency for the first time for undergraduate and post-graduate admissions at participating central universities. With CUET-UG results declared on September 16 and CUET-PG results on September 26, some students who are now seeking to migrate to central universities are being slapped with financial penalties by their private institutes in violation of a UGC order.

The UGC on Tuesday reiterated that it was mandatory for colleges and universities to follow its August 2022 directive requiring them to provide a “full refund” of fees in case of cancellation of admissions or migration of students up to October 31.

In a letter to all Vice Chancellors and principals, UGC secretary Rajnish Jain warned that failure to refund fees could result in an institution losing its eligibility to receive grants under Section 12B of the UGC Act, 1956 as well as withholding of a grant allocated to it. It could also lead to the UGC recommending that the affiliating university withdraw affiliation of the college or institute as well as proposing to the government that its deemed to be university status be cancelled. The Commission was prompted to issue the stern warning because of complaints, court cases and RTI applications on the issue, said Prof. Jain.