Tuition and other fees of private engineering colleges are set to go up soon. The new fee structure may vary from one college to another, depending on the facilities each offers.

The state government has started reviewing the fee structure of the colleges following a demand for hike from the managements.

“We have held two rounds of discussions with the colleges on rationalisation of the fee structure. More talks will be held before we decide on a hike,” an official of the technical education department said. The Supreme Court has given freedom to the state governments to fix the fees of private colleges.

The private engineering institutes of the state have long been demanding a steep hike of the annual tuition fee from Rs 41,000 to Rs 60,000.

“Every engineering institution, state-run or private, has to abide by the guidelines of the All India Council for Technical Education on infrastructure, staff strength and other facilities. Since the rules are same for all categories of institutions, our expenditure per student is no less than the state-aided colleges,” said D. Banerjee, the director of Mallbhum Institute of Technology and joint secretary of an association of the owners of private engineering colleges.

“The private colleges, citing the expense-per-student of state-aided institutes, have demanded that their annual tuition fee be fixed at Rs 60,000. At a recent meeting with the government, the managements pointed out that institutes like Jadavpur University and Bengal Engineering and Science University, which depend entirely on state grants, spend around Rs 1.20 lakh a year on each student,” said an official in the technical education department.

The official added that the government was considering a proposal to fix separate fees for colleges, depending on their infrastructure.

An increase in fees is unavoidable for another reason, too. The University Grants Commission has recommended around 70 per cent hike in the salaries of college and university teachers.

“Once the recommendation is implemented — likely to happen in a year — the expenditure of the colleges will go up manifold. Unless the tuition and other fees are raised we won’t be able to pool in the required funds,” said a source in a private engineering college.

Under the proposed pay scale, a lecturer will earn at least Rs 21,000 a month. Now, a lecturer’s minimum salary is Rs 12,000.

Sources in the technical education department, however, said that since the Lok Sabha elections are almost round the corner, the government may not immediately agree on a Rs-19,000 hike of the tuition fee. “The hike is likely to be effected in phases. An increase of Rs 19,000 at one go may not go down well with the people,” said a source.