A complaint questioning the very premise of grant-in-aid courses has put the Faculty of Technology and Engineering at the MS University of Baroda under scrutiny.
A student has alleged that the institute charged an annual fee of Rs 41,090 for a working professionals' engineering course, far above the Rs1,500 listed for grant-in-aid colleges.
Sources said the student filed a complaint with the Fee Regulatory Committee - Technical (FRC-Technical) through the Admission Committee for Professional Courses (ACPC). While the ACPC website listed the annual fee as Rs1,500, the university demanded Rs 41,090 for the 2025-26 academic year from around 43 students.
The issue has resurfaced as ACPC gears up for admissions to degree engineering courses for the 2026-27 academic year.
In the email complaint, the student wrote: "I am writing to express my concern regarding a significant discrepancy in tuition fees for admission to the Faculty of Technology and Engineering, MSU Baroda, for working professionals in the degree engineering course for 2025-26. As per the official ACPC notice, the tuition fee for government or GIA colleges was mentioned as Rs1,500. However, MSU Baroda declared the actual fee as Rs41,090."
The student added: "This sudden and drastic increase is distressing and appears unfair, especially as students made academic and financial decisions based on the initial fee structure communicated by ACPC. The burden of such a high fee is neither justified nor manageable for a government college. It also blurs the distinction between self-financed and government institutions."
A scrutiny by authorities, following the complaint, revealed that the fee was unusually high for a grant-in-aid course at a public university. However, FRC-Technical lacks jurisdiction over state universities, and the matter was referred to the technical education department about a month ago.
When contacted, Dean Dhanesh Patel said the course was designed for working professionals. Addressing the discrepancy between the ACPC listing and the actual fee, he said approval from FRC came late in 2025, leaving little time to update the website.
An official in the education department said charging Rs 41,090 could violate All India Council for Technical Education norms, as grant-in-aid institutes cannot levy different fee structures for the same degree course.
While Commissioner of Technical Education B H Talati did not respond to calls, Patel said the university had received telephonic instructions from the state not to charge the higher fee.
"We received instructions a few days ago and will not charge Rs 41,090 for working professionals. However, we need to assess the viability of running the course at GIA fees. We plan to complete the four-year course for the first batch of 43 students and will reconsider admissions from the 2026-27 academic year," he said.