Abstract

Attikuppam Umapathi and Chintala Venkatramana

This paper attempts to understand the higher education scenario in Andhra Pradesh, India, with
reference to Reimbursement of Tuition Fee (RTF) scheme that was introduced by the government of
Andhra Pradesh to enhance higher educational opportunities. The scheme was introduced to
encourage the students to pursue higher education in both government and private colleges, and the
government bears the tuition fee by reimbursing the fee paid by the students to the colleges. The policy
opened higher educational opportunities to students from economically weaker sections, who
otherwise could not have pursued higher education. It is well known that the expenses involved in the
higher education discourage students from weaker economic background to pursue higher education.
This limits them to contain themselves with secondary school education or upper secondary school
education thus making them not competent enough in gaining capabilities in this globalized world. With
the introduction of RTF scheme students from weaker sections have been able to pursue higher
education. This was believed to equip them with sufficient capabilities to meet the competitive work
place environment with the spread of globalization. This paper attempts to briefly look at the
background of the TRF policy, its necessity, implementation process, and a detailed account of
different aspects covered under the scheme to enhance the higher educational opportunities to the
economically weaker sections.