Private engineering colleges charging exorbitant fees for BBA and BCA courses, in violation of VTU order, allege students and parents

Despite Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU) guidelines capping the fees for Bachelors in Business Administration (BBA) and Bachelors in Computer Applications (BCA) offered in engineering colleges, parents and students have alleged that many colleges have been charging several times beyond the prescribed fee cap. 

Despite Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU) guidelines capping the fees for Bachelors in Business Administration (BBA) and Bachelors in Computer Applications (BCA) offered in engineering colleges, parents and students have alleged that many colleges have been charging several times beyond the prescribed fee cap. 

While VTU has capped the fees for these courses at private engineering colleges at ₹50,000, several private engineering colleges are charging as high as ₹2.5 lakh to ₹3 lakh for these courses. Many have pointed out that this is much higher than fees fixed for government quota engineering seats in private colleges, fixed at ₹1.7 lakh for 2024-25. 

Earlier, engineering colleges were not allowed to offer BBA and BCA courses. But the All-India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) permitted engineering colleges with good infrastructure including buildings, teaching staff and other resources to offer these courses from 2024-25. Since admissions to these courses are not done through the Common Entrance Test (CET), many colleges are taking students through college-level exams. 

Following complaints of the unregulated fee structure for these courses at private engineering colleges, VTU, to which all engineering colleges in the State are affiliated, issued two orders over the past week capping the fee for these courses. As per these orders, the annual registration and other fees have been capped at ₹5,020, and tuition fees for Karnataka and non-Karnataka students capped at ₹45,000 and the same capped at ₹50,000 for foreign nationals and Non Residential Indian (NRI) students.

“I have decided to admit my son for a BCA course in a prestigious engineering college in the city. He has also scored good marks in the internal examination conducted by the college. However, the college has prescribed a fee of ₹2.5 lakh, which is outrageous. If you question the high fee, the management is asking us to go elsewhere,” complained Venkatesh, a parent from Bengaluru.

“An engineering college working under a prestigious private university is asking students to pay ₹2.3 lakh for a BBA course this year. Private engineering colleges are charging more fees for BBA and BCA courses than engineering courses. The government should bring fee regulation to degree courses as well. This will help poor and meritorious students,” urged Shashank N., a student from Bengaluru.