My friend, a 21-year-old engineering student from Visakhapatnam, finds her future in limbo. Even after completing her four‑year BTech at Gayatri Vidya Parishad College of Engineering earlier this year, she is still waiting for her degree certificate.
“They told me to pay Rs 1.5 lakh if I want my certificate,” she tells me, adding that without the document, she can't apply for higher studies or a job.
The situation my friend finds herself in is the fault of the Andhra Pradesh government—not of the college.
After her father’s death in 2023, my friend's family has relied on relatives to manage daily expenses and to support her and her sister's education. She could only enroll in the engineering college thanks to the state government's tuition fee reimbursement scheme. "Without it, we could not afford this college,” she says.
The said fee reimbursement scheme was introduced in undivided Andhra Pradesh under then Chief Minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy in 2008 to help cover tuition fees for students belonging to SC, ST, OBC, minority, and economically weaker backgrounds.
While the Andhra Pradesh government released Rs 1,200 crore in February this year, which was due for the academic year 2024-25, as reported by The Hindu, the Parents Association of Andhra Pradesh says dues of around Rs 7,000 crore are still pending for nearly 12 lakh students studying across the state.
Students say delays in disbursal have made what was supposed to be a welfare guarantee increasingly function as a deferred promise. My friend, who's among those affected by this delay, says that with no stable source of income, arranging Rs 1.5 lakh on her own is beyond her means.
'Students Paying the Price'
The burden is most visible among first-generation learners and economically vulnerable families.
Anusha (name changed), a graduate of Rajiv Gandhi University of Knowledge Technologies, Nellore, says more than Rs 1 lakh in dues remains pending against her name. “My father is an auto driver. The college told me I have to clear the full amount to receive my certificate,” she says.
For some students, the pressure begins even before graduation. A first-year BSc student, from an OBC family in Srikakulam, says she was barred from writing her exams till she paid the tuition fee.
“The total fee was around Rs 40,000, which I had to somehow arrange and pay... Before joining the college, the management had told us about the fee reimbursement, and we were informed that the government will pay on our behalf. But now they are asking us to pay first...”
Her mother, a homemaker, recently took up tailoring to support the family after her father’s death, but the income is irregular and far from enough to cover education costs.
Another friend, a Dalit student who graduated from IIIT Nuzvid, says he had to submit a notarised undertaking from a lawyer, promising to pay Rs 37,000 later, to access his certificate.
'The Missing Maintenance Support'
The crisis extends beyond tuition fees.
Apart from the fee reimbursement scheme typically paid to colleges, the state’s post-matric scholarship system has a maintenance fee component which is credited to the families of the students.
The model covers a large private higher education network of more than 1,000 degree colleges and over 200 engineering colleges. Under the maintenance fee scheme, eligible students receive Rs 20,000 per year into their mother’s account to cover food and hostel expenses.
However, several students claim these payments have been irregular or absent, adding to both their financial strain and mental stress. For families dependent on daily wages, students say this support often determines whether they can continue education without disruption.
'Scholarship Schemes Expanded Access'
A National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration study published in 2018 states that Andhra Pradesh’s expansion of private higher education since the late 2000s has been closely tied to reimbursement-backed admissions.
At the same time, the 2021-22 All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) showed a steady rise in enrolment among SC, ST, and OBC students over the past decade. SC enrolment has increased 44 percent nationally from 46.06 lakh in 2014-15 to 66.23 lakh in 2021-22. ST enrolment has increased 65.2 percent in the same period. In Andhra Pradesh, OBCs alone constitute over 42 percent of higher education enrolment, reflecting the impact of welfare schemes on access.
But, even as the welfare system remains in place, as delays persist, the burden of financing higher education is quietly shifting onto the very students it was meant to support. This risks undermining the progress made so far.
(The Quint has reached out to Andhra Pradesh's Department of Higher Education, Social Welfare Department, and State Council of Higher Education on the issues raised by the students. Their responses are awaited. The story would be updated as and when they respond.)
(All 'My Report' branded stories are submitted by citizen journalists to The Quint. Though The Quint inquires into the claims/allegations from all parties before publishing, the report and the views expressed above are the citizen journalist's own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for the same.)