Finally the Seat Matrix issue is resolved for Karnataka CET. But the Fee for engineering courses up by Rs 5K.

At a meeting with private school managements, the government has decided to increase fee for engineering courses by Rs 5,000. However, poor and meritorious students will be spared. The seat ratio between private and government colleges, however, remains 50:50, the same as last year.

Higher education minister Aravind Limbavali told reporters the fee for students, excluding poor and meritorious students, has been increased from Rs 25,000 to Rs 30,000. Citing the reason that Colleges have to provide quality education and this cannot be done with the existing fee structure.

Students in the category of poor and meritorious quota which was introduced last year had to pay Rs 15,000 in private colleges the under CET quota. “This year too, they will pay Rs 15,000. Hence, instead of putting the burden on these students, we decided to bear the cost and pay an additional Rs 10,000 to the colleges,” the minister said. The total subsidy amount is Rs 5 crore. He also said that 6% interest subsidy loans continues for this year also. About 8,000 students availed of this scheme last year.

WHAT YOU WILL PAY THIS YEAR

• Poor, meritorious students — Rs 15,000
• All other categories, including general merit —- Rs 30,000
• Fee structure for Comed-K is same

Higher education minister Aravind Limbavali said: “Students with a family income of less than Rs 2 lakh fall under the poor category. Last year, 20,000 students got admission in this category. But supplementary students with the annual income of Rs 2 lakh cannot fall under it. Hence, we decided to have 20,000 has the cut-off and Rs 2 lakh annual income, the same as last year,” Limbavali explained.

The fee structure for Comed-K remains the same as last year — with an upper limit of Rs 1.25 lakh. “Colleges can charge any amount but it should not exceed Rs 1.25 lakh. Last year, there were some colleges which charged lesser than the upper limit. This will be communicated to ComedK and will be displayed during counseling,” he said.

Minority institutions:
For minority institutions, the seat matrix is 45:55 — 45% for government quota and 55% for minority institutions. The government decided to introduce poor and meritorious category in lateral-entry. These students too will pay Rs 15,000. The minister added that the supplementary students will be allowed to take counseling and there’ll be only three rounds of counseling, like last time. “We’ll complete the CET process in 65 days,” he said.

No common CET:
This year, there’ll be two entrance tests — Comed-K and CET. “The Centre is considering introducing a single nationallevel entrance test for professional and commerce courses, which will also be also taken into consideration. But this is not for 2010,” he said.

Long wait for medical?
It seems like it’s going to be a long wait for the medical course as the government is yet to come to a consensus on the seat matrix and fee structure. “I’ll speak to medical education minister Ramachandra Gowda on this,” the minister said.