Hyderabad: Mediocre and low-ranking universities in the US are luring local consultants in the city with higher commissions to get more admissions. Consultants are being offered up to $300 for each admission.
They are thus encouraging students even with good GRE, TOEFL scores etc. to take admissions in mediocre and low ranking universities in the US. These colleges have a vast network of consultants across the city. Areas such as Ameerpet, Secunderabad, Tarnaka and Dilsukhnagar are known to be the hubs for these consultants.
This network operates like a mafia wherein right from the managements of these universities to senior students and ex-students to consultants work in tandem to get admissions and they share the revenue accordingly.
The consultants have direct access to the managements, ex-students and senior students of these universities in the US. Whenever students approach these consultants for admissions, they arrange either a telephonic or video interaction over Skype with them, who explain in detail the benefits they enjoy in the US by taking admissions in these universities and recommend them to follow suit.
This convinces the students here to opt for these universities, which charge relatively lesser fees than good ranking and accredited universities in the US. They also promise to allow them to take up jobs in the US without attending classes.
“If we send students to top universities, we will get nothing except the processing fee of about Rs 3,000. Whereas if we send students to mediocre universities, we will get up to $300, which amounts to more than Rs 18,000 per student,” said Mr B. Shankar, a consultant in Tarnaka. There are over 50 consultants for these universities who do brisk business in the city. They say their business took a hit in the wake of the Tri Valley University in US being shut down in 2011 and hundreds of city students were deported.
However business picked up again after a year. Despite students being deported again, the consultants say there has been no major impact on their business with students continuing to strive for seats in these universities with plans of taking up jobs in the US.
