“I had a MacBook, but my parents still had to pay for the Dell laptop because of college requirements,” said a student who requested anonymity fearing action from college administration.
The college has raised the admission fee substantially ostensibly to accommodate the laptop scheme.
Before the laptop scheme was introduced in the college, the college admission fee was Rs 70,000 which has now increased to Rs 158,000.
But the rise in college admission fee is far higher than the market price of the laptop thrust upon the students. The Dell Latitude D700 laptop costs around Rs 70,000 in the Kathmandu market, a wholesaler said. However, a retailer, Ranjeet Poddar, of Saathi Computers said he can avail the model at around Rs 55,000. This is the price for individual purchase. For bulk purchase - the college takes in 160 students every year - the price is negotiable.
But the rise in admission fee by the college is Rs 88,000!
One of the ex-students of the college had this to say: “They do not take back the laptop and refund the money even if you drop out from the college just about one month of admission and even if you haven´t even used the laptop at all.”
Bishnu Raj Adhikari, principal of the college, defended the compulsory provision as college policy.
“Once the students are inside the college, they need to abide by the requirements of the college and if they do not like the idea of having to buy the laptop then they are free to join other colleges,” Adhikari said.
He defended the laptop policy saying the college wants all students to use laptops with the same configuration.
The principal also claimed that it was the students´ idea to make laptops part of the college package. “The college administration just provides the guarantee and does the advance payment,” Adhikari claimed.
But the students have an additional complaint.
The college takes fees for all four years at the time of admission if the student in question has the intent to apply abroad. And the college does not refund the money later if the student switches to a college abroad.
The principal said this is done to ensure that there aren´t many dropouts from the college. “The functioning of the college becomes difficult if all the students start dropping out. The seat once abandoned by the student remains unoccupied for four years,” he said.
The college takes a total of 160 students every year, who are equally divided between the BBA and BBIS programs.
After the system of charging fees for four years was introduced in the college last admission season, the percentage of students dropping out of the college has fallen from 30% to just 10%.
The principal also said, “Even the big universities take original certificates once the students are admitted in there for preventing the students from dropping out of the college. We have a different way of retaining them.”
The college is one of the most expensive management colleges in Nepal. It charges a monthly fee of Rs 11,500.
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