Fees for Agriculture Courses Offered in Maharashtra Hiked by 142%

Fees for all undergraduate agriculture courses in Maharashtra have been hiked by 142%. The agriculture universities have declared such a steep rise in fees for the first time across the state.

The accreditation of four agriculture universities in Maharashtra was kept on hold by the Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR) as a result of a large number of vacancies in government agriculture colleges and the establishment of private agriculture colleges that lack proper infrastructure and fail to provide the required quality of education.

Also Read:TS Government Hikes Engineering Fee

As a result, the grants provided to the colleges by the apex body have been affected. Students who are in the midst of the admission process are shocked to see a fee hike of this extent. After the fees hike, students who were supposed to pay Rs. 11,000 will have to pay Rs. 26,650 as the tuition fee has been raised from Rs. 3000 to Rs. 6000, hostel fees has been raised from R.s 4,600 to Rs. 11,000 whereas examination fees has gone up from Rs. 1,600 to Rs. 3,200.

A senior officer, College of Agriculture, said that the fee hike is not related to the ICAR’s recent decision. He also added that the fees were not revised from past five years, therefore, the decision was made for all the four agriculture universities in the state.

Also Read:HRD Receives Report on Upper Limit of Fee by National Fee Committee

Students and alumni have shown their discontent against the decision shedding light on the fact that most of the students enrolling in the agriculture courses are from the economically weaker sections. They maintained that the fees hike will discourage them from taking admissions to these government universities.

Some of the students also said that the fee that was below 1 lakh rupees will rise above Rs. 2 lakh as there are eight semesters and for each of which the students will have to pay up to Rs. 26,000.