Are private colleges worth the money?

This week has been rather an eventful one. Considering the protests of students against the government's decision to abolish the otherwise affordable test. Furthermore, government chooses another expensive test to be taken as the criterion for admissions into private colleges. Now comes the trouble. How must a student hailing from a middle or lower middle class family ever think of affording the exuberant fees that the private colleges would demand? Even if the students struggle their way into a private college, will they be benefited in the right manner?

In general, when we see the statistics, it clearly shows that majority of the students choose private colleges over colleges run by government or the government aided colleges. The reason being- better facilities, campus placements and a more trendy environment.

However, are the private colleges worth the money? There certainly should be a limit to the amount of fee that the private colleges demand. But the name "private" comes with a condition that the fees paid will cause a significant hole in the pocket. There might be a handful of private colleges that are student friendly when it comes to tuition fees, but more of these are required if we are to expect an "educated India" in years to come.

The reason for demanding such sky-high payments will include, infrastructure, labs, facilities that are unusually comfortable, large and spacious library with new edition books, placements, a large figure for campus area, highly qualified lecturers, air conditioned classrooms, miscellaneous etc.

When one reads about what these private colleges have to offer we cannot but wish to get into one of those. But the question here would be, is the final deciding factor going to be a college's infrastructure, which no longer will matter to you once you graduate? Do you have to pay a huge sum for the Mohagany wood used for the podium?

Next in line is the lab, well if the course has certain experiments to do, they have to be done with the equipments and substances that are prescribed. Which is what will be done at even the smallest of colleges, but apart from having too many of these equipments, the private colleges cannot give you a different component altogether!

Facilities like the lifts and solar cabs to move from one part of the college to another can't be the reason for selection. If you walked a little you are actually exercising which is a good thing. Whether you use this or not, you will have to pay still.

Large and spacious libraries and new edition books, whether there is too much space or too little, in the end it depends on whether you use the library to study regularly? Is the number of books that can be borrowed from the library worth it? Are the new edition books anywhere related to your subject? These must be considered.

Placements, well in some private colleges this has become a new source of income! There have been numerous incidents where the placement department requires you to pay a sum in order to attend placement drives. Things like, if you are placed in one company and have received an offer letter, you will have to pay 5000 (estimated figure) per company if you will attend placements further or you can pay 12000 (estimated figure) and attend any number of placement drives you want after being placed already. The colleges claim that this is done to create opportunities for those who aren't placed yet, because those who are placed would not pay and attend other placements. This doesn't make much of a difference to those who are confident of getting more offer letters, those who are rich, those who do not want to take a chance with just one offer letter and those who are looking out for companies paying more. Whether you get many offers or not will depend on your capability, for which the fee being paid makes no sense.

These days many private colleges that advertise claim they have a large figure for campus area. For instance, 120 acres of campus, this is their wealth, and in the end its between four walls that you gain knowledge. So do you have to pay for them to pay up their taxes?

Highly qualified lectures will be available even in government colleges. The thing that matters is how knowledgeable a lecturer is rather than how high his/her qualification goes.

Air conditioned classrooms are unnecessary! These are the new add-ons that came in. But thinking practically we can all survive in a classroom that has enough light and air. Fans and windows can be used when we feel hot and we can wear the ever dependable jackets and sweaters if we feel cold.

Miscellaneous fee- It is always there for you to pay, but you will never know what it is exactly for.

The basic idea to attend college is to gain knowledge and to grow in life. It really doesn't matter if its got in a luxurious way or in a modest way. In the end, it is a student who decides his/her future. If you make up your mind to succeed no broken desk, bad lecturer, stuffy classrooms etc will matter. So, think about the "needs" before you think about the "wants".