Professional college education in the state is all set to become dearer. About 400 colleges in the state have come up with a revised fee structure that would take care of the additional financial burden brought on them by the sixth pay commission's salary recommendations for teaching and non-teaching staff.

Engineering (B.Tech and M.Tech), Pharmacy (B.Pharm and M.Pharm), MBA and MCA courses are thus looking at a substantial fee hike.

As per a Supreme Court directive, issued on February 2 this year, colleges are eligible to go for a fee hike commensurate with the extra financial burden they will incur when implementing the sixth pay commission recommendations.

The apex court had directed the state government and regulatory body Admission and Fee Regulatory Committee (AFRC), to look into the drawing up of a new fee structure. About 400 colleges from the state have submitted their hike plans, which the AFRC will scrutinize over the coming two weeks.

While the average fees for engineering and pharmacy courses at the undergraduate level is Rs 50,200 per student, colleges have submitted proposals that may take up the tuition to Rs 88,000. Similarly, in the case of MBA and MCA colleges, average fees are expected to increase from Rs 42,300 to 80,335 per student per annum.

The M.Pharm fee structure should go from Rs 1.44 lakh per annum to Rs 1.82 lakh per annum with the M.Pharm-D fees likely to increase from the current average of Rs 94,100 to Rs 1.32 lakh per annum. The M.Tech course fee is expected to jump from Rs 77,400 to Rs 1.15 lakh.

Of the 400 colleges that have applied to have their fees hiked, about 50 have submitted all records, including balance sheets for the financial year 2009 to 2012. About 350 colleges which had submitted similar records to the AFRC in 2011 have written to the state government asking it to consider their previous records while implementing the hike.

College managements said that the state government would have to implement revised fee structures from the coming academic year.

"The SC has already asked the state to respond to our long-standing demand for increasing fees. The government, through AFRC, would have to submit its report to the SC at the next hearing in the matter, slated for March 22," said KVK Rao, a college management representative.

The additional burden on students pursuing professional courses will be a minimum Rs 37,700 per year starting next year.

The fee hike will also impact the state government's coffers as about 70% in the meritorious students category are beneficiaries of the fee reimbursement scheme.

"The additional burden on government for engineering and pharmacy courses alone would be over Rs 3,000 crore," an official said.