Fee $130: Fill & Download for Free

I am in complete solidarity with the students and the sentiment behind the #RollBackBITSPilaniFeeHike movement.There is absolutely no justification for this kind of sustained fee hike for more than a decade and a half. In absence of any accountability or explanation from the management, and a lack of government oversight on the institution, owing to it being a private one, it is even more crucial for BITS students and alumni likewise to take matters into their own hands.I wrote the following piece in response to the chaos abuzz at the 3 sister campuses of BITS. And I plan to mail it from my official BITS ID to as many people from the administration as possible. If you are a BITSian too, feel free to use it (the first few paras are personal experiences, but the latter part is generic and can be reused).I am a proud BITSian. I have been, from the moment I set foot into the gorgeous Goa campus, a decade plus one year ago.Everyone knows that college is a major milestone in the life of an individual. It is the place where you transition into an adult. Where you learn to truly be your own person. It’s in those 4 or 5 years that you find your true calling. For me, 2007-11 in that small, 180 acre campus was the most transformational period of my life. I made a lot of mistakes in those 48 odd months, but I am sure that I took something from each one of them. I made friends that I will cherish for the remainder of my life. The start of my first relationship coincided with the start of my first semester. Despite being an average student academically, it did help me lay the foundation for a brighter future prospect. I’d like to think that wherever I am in life right now, is in no small part due to my experiences at BITS.However, for the past few days, I have been reading about the incessant fees hike and the student protest against it. And I am not sure “pride” is what I am feeling right now. It’s a feeling somewhere between sadness and anger.In a country like India, with an immense young population, and a dire lack of a decent educational infrastructure, BITS Pilani used to be at the forefront of how to get it all right. The Birlas were pioneers in leveraging their wealth and status to open up a college of excellence. I might be wrong, but wasn’t it all started with the aim to have a “not-for-profit”, “private IIT”? Something that imbibes the best of both worlds – with the quality of students from IITs and the autonomy that government-owned institutions don’t generally have? Wasn’t it all inspired from the fabled Massachusetts Institute of Technology? Is the vision that Mr. G.D. Birla had so weak that “corporate greed” can destroy it?And yes, I did say “corporate greed”. How else can you justify a 15% YoY increase in the fees since the last 17 years? Has inflation grown at a similar rate in the same time period? Or have the placements? I mean, you can only increase the price if either the costs go up or the utility of your product. If any price hike in a free market is not backed by either of the two, you are sure to be replaced soon.If BITS has always been a “not for profit” org, it is safe to assume that it was so back in 2002 also. Then how do you justify such high and sustained increase in costs? Why isn’t there a duly audited income statement that is published annually?There are ~7000 students at any given point in time across the 3 campuses (ignoring Dubai for the sake of consistency). Considering a hypothetical scenario where the annual fee is INR 2L per student, the total receipts from tuition fees will be INR 140 Cr. Add to that another 30 Cr from the mess fees (I am assuming it is around 3000/month). That brings the total receipts to INR 170 Cr (again, assuming that there are no other sources of income for the college (a point that we will revisit soon)).Considering a 20:1 ratio of students to teachers, there should be about 350 lecturers, professors, and senior professors. If the information provided on the official website (http://www.bits-pilani.ac.in/university/fad/TenuredOnCampus) is to be considered, the average pay should be no more than INR 1L per month, or INR 12L per annum. This brings the remuneration to the teaching faculty to INR 42 Cr. Another liberal assumption of an equal number of support staff being paid an average of INR 6L per annum would bring the total to INR 63 Cr.Now here’s the catch. Similar figures for IIM-Ahmedabad (for the year 2015-16) are here. Not surprisingly, staff costs comprise ~50% of the total costs. That would imply that the cost of running the 3 sister BITS campuses should be in the INR 120-130 Cr ballpark annually, leaving another INR 40-50 Cr per annum.I am aware that the institute also provides a Merit-cum-Need (MCN) scholarship to students from low-income backgrounds, having availed it myself. I vaguely remember a thread on BITS 360 that almost a fourth of the students receive financial aid. A simple assumption that half of them get a 50% waiver and another half gets a 25% waiver, would imply that the total amount of MCN scholarships should be less than 10% of fee receipts (37.5%*25%) or, in this scenario, INR 14 Cr. This still leaves a INR 26-36 Cr as the balance.Coming back to the point of having only 2 primary income sources; why is that the case? Why is a 350 member strong faculty unable to generate any additional revenue (like is the case with most of the world class universities) from consulting assignments, or from academic/industry projects? What about the multiple festivals (3 each across the 3 campuses)? Does the institute charge companies for placements – why or why not? How much is the current corpus lying with the trust? How much return does it generate from investments? Why aren’t there any short-term corporate programs to generate additional revenues?My point is that even at a INR 2L/annum/student fees, the university makes enough to pay its faculty and staff well, dole out scholarships to the ones who need it, and still have some of it overflow into the coffers. In that scenario, why is the need for revising it to 3.2L?I am going to close this with 2 key messages.To the administration: Where has it all gone wrong? Do we care so little about the education of the country’s youth and Mr. Birla’s vision? Is saying, “If you can’t afford the fees, go to a government college” an appropriate statement from the Director? Can we get some accountability into the system?To the current students: I am with you. So are thousands of other alumni. The little bit of BITSian pride left in me is all because of you wonderful people. Always remember Albus Dumbledore’s words : “Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light.” Be peaceful, but be resilient. Be calm, but keep up the uproar. If an old, frail, bespectacled hermit, with just a charkha, a stick, and a resolve of steel could drive away imperial rulers from a nation of 300 million, then 7000 young men and women, and 10x the number of alumni can fight off an increasingly corrupt administration.

The fee structure for each student in AFMC is same. Here category or mark does not play an important role in fees structure. AFMC is one of the best medical colleges in India with a total of 130 medical seats, where 10 seats are allotted to the SC/ST candidates and 25 seats for girls. The admission procedure of AFMC is comparatively different from other medical colleges. The candidates have to qualify the NEET exam before appearing AFMC test. AFMC tests consist of Logical Reasoning, Psychometric Test, English exam and Personal Interview to assess the student personally. Therefore, the candidates have to be equally good with each subject. The total fees structure of AFMCC for 5years 6 months are Rs. 2,66,000.The application fee of the form is Rs. 250. The applicants have to pay the fee through the portal of State Bank of India. The students of AFMC get stipend differently. The students have to pay Rs. 1500 per month as mess bill or if the administration imposes any kind of fine on the alleged student. The semester examination fee is Rs. 2600 and Rs 1000 is charged on each student as University fee.The fees of AFMC College are subsidized as the central government pays off certain amount.· Ration and subsidized mess foods are available for the residents· Proper hostel accommodation for the students along with other basic services· AC- 3 tier railway fare during the term vacation from college to home and vice versa· Rs. 12000 is allotted to each student for buying books and other equipment purpose· Rs 6000 for uniform purpose and Rs 1250 for the maintenance purpose in respective years.· Rs. 140 as hair cutting allowance· Stationery Allowance· Washing AllowanceAdditional if a student pays Rs 7200 as onetime non-refundable premium, with a relegated term of Rs 857 for six months, then the cadets will get an insurance cover of Rs 15,00,000 for death, Rs. 7,50,000 for 100% disability and Rs. 1,50,000 for 20% disability.

There is too much confusion, but, as a new notification issued by TRAI on January 10, 2019, it goes as follows:You need to pay minimum network capacity fees ₹130 (excluding taxes) to your operator (ie, Tata Sky, DishTV, Hathaway, Videocon, etc).You will get 100 SD Channels by paying the minimum amount, ie, network capacity fees. If you want HD Channels, you will get a maximum of 50 HD. (1 HD = 2 SD).These 100 channels are free to choose among ANY. It means you can fill your 100 channels with anything you want - be it paid or free or HD or anything. (For eg: You can choose to have only HD channels and you cannot be forced to have SD Channels. Or, you can have all the sports channel and you shall not be forced to have an entertainment channel.If you want more than 100 channels, you can take it one-by-one (ala carte) or in a group of 25 channels.A group of 25 channels is capped at a fixed price of ₹20 (excluding taxes), but inclusive of network capacity fees. It means, say, you need 125 total SD channels, then the amount will be ₹150 (excluding taxes).Each channel will have an MRP, just like groceries. Say after the 100 channels, you will need a channel, say, Discovery which has MRP ₹9. Then you will have to pay:100 channels = 130Discovery = 9 , Network Capacity Fees = 1.30 . Total for Discovery channel = 10.30Total (excluding taxes) = 140.30Say you need a total of 150 channels, then the pricing will be :100 channels = 13025 channels = 20 (including network capacity fees) X 2Total (excluding taxes) = 170You will be deliberately confused by your operator just because they will want to cheat you. I am sharing a transcript of TRAI rule to make it clear that what I wrote above is the government guidelines:In the press statement, TRAI has said, “Consumer has complete freedom to choose their desired 100 Standard Definition (SD) channels within the network capacity fee of maximum Rs 130. The desired channels could be in a-la-carte, Free to Air channels, or Pay channels or bouquet of pay channels or any combination thereof. The choice completely rests with the consumers.”Edit: (1) Out of 100 channels, we have to mandatorily opt for 26 Prasad Bharati (DD1, Lok Sabha TV, etc). So basically, you got to choose 74 channels in the first 100.(2) Refer Point No. 5 of the Press Release, Dated - 10.01.2019. Link of the PDF is - http://main.trai.gov.in/notifications/press-release/press-release-consumer-choices-new-regulatory-framework-broadcasting-and .Note: I have written this answer totally on the basis of the notification issued by the TRAI (the link is also shared above along the quote in bold). You can also read it and you will derive the same conclusion as I have derived. However, many major news channels as well as website cites that in the first 100 channels, if you take pay channels, you need to pay extra. TRAI has been ambiguous about it and did not specifically mention that you need “NOT” pay extra for any channels in the first 100.Now, suppose if we need to pay extra for the pay channels in the first 100, then how will the bill be less? If that is the case, this is seriously against the interest of customers and TRAI needs us to pay 154 only for channels which we might not see, ie, the free ones.