Hyderabad: The much-vaunted fee reimbursement and scholarship scheme is losing popularity as the number of beneficiaries is decreasing over the years, though there is no decline in the number of applications.
The state government is providing monetary aid to students under Reimbursement of Tuition Fee (RTF) and Maintenance Fee (MTF) for students pursuing various courses. The reimbursements were not released in time for many years, which left the students disappointed. The managements of institutions are not encouraging students who depend on the fee scheme as they have to reply to them in case of delay in disbursement.
According to the data procured under RTI by Yugantar, a city organisation, there is a fall in the number of beneficiaries in successive years. According to the information provided by the minorities welfare department, 1,13,053 applications were sanctioned against 1,22,948 applications received in 2014-15 and Rs 191.12 crore and Rs 40.55 crore were released under RTF and MTF respectively,
In 2015-16, 1,23,446 students applied and 1,11,474 were selected and Rs 188.59 crore under RTF and Rs 39.12 crore under MTF were sanctioned. In 2016-17, 1,05, 577 students were benefited against the 1,24,395 applications and Rs 143.91 crore was released to institutions as fee reimbursement and Rs 26.73 crore as post matric scholarship. In 2017-18, 1,33,100 students had applied for post-matric scholarship, but only 34,853 were sanctioned and Rs 26.73 crore under RTF and Rs 17.25 crore under MTF released.
According to the managements of minority institutions, more than 50 professional minority colleges have closed since 2014 due to various reasons, some of which are the inexorable implementation of guidelines from nodal agencies and delay in receiving amounts under the fee reimbursement scheme. One of the promoters of minority professional colleges stated that 173 institutions, including minority colleges are yet to receive amounts under RTF since 2014.
