Oci card holders paying higher fees at university

vijay7an · Post by **vijay7an** » Fri Feb 13, 2015 4:40 pm

Dear All,

I am a British passport holder with and OCI and have returned to India from the UK 3 months ago and am put up at Chennai. I have 2 sons aged 11 and 3. I have enrolled my older boy at a school in Chennai offering IGCSE as an interim measure as I came in the middle of term.

Having arrived here, I have been researching quite a lot about the school provisions here in Chennai and I've also seen around 13 schools in Bangalore - all International and IGCSE. The reason being my child does not know any Indian second languages and that limits us.

All the International schools we have been into cater primarily for kids intending to go abroad for their under graduation and come at senseless fees for such young kids. They are categorically clear that the children coming out of IGCSE schools may never be able to compete with the Indian boards and therefore one must rule out Medical and Engineering altogether here. This is a real dampener as we have returned from UK and we want our boys to be able to compete here. Joining an ICSE or CBSE with french as a second language is a choice and we are trying really hard in some preferred schools. No luck at all with admissions.

Besides the above scenario, it appears that even if we manage to get into a University here the fees will be in dollars and my child will be categorised as a foreign national. What's the idea of an OCI then? We are RESIDENT OCI's earning in rupees and paying taxes in India. Is is really possible for the vast majority of us to pay in dollars or just up and go back? If we were earning abroad there is no question of course. Moreover we will also lose the right to the status of a domestic student unless we are there back in the UK 3 years prior to my son starting University. Why did we come back at all????

I am sure many of you are already aware of all of this. My reason to post is to ask what you feel about this and how have you decided to overcome this. Are you staying or leaving? Are you banking on 'perhaps things may change?' To the extent I know only Manipal allows OCI holders to appear under the general category and if qualifying will accept Indian fees.

I am at the verge of making a decision to turn back as I don't see why the children should have so much disruption in their crucial years. I am looking for opinions and suggestions and experience from any of you that's been there and done that.

Thank you.

kumte · Post by **kumte** » Fri Feb 13, 2015 6:27 pm

My kids came back when the elder was 13 and younger 6. Both joined CBSE schools. Elder had Hindi in 8th grade. After that he took French as second language. He managed Hindi with tuitions the first year. Now after 4 years he is like a local. Since he studied 5 years here he is eligible for local engg / med colleges.

sumachechi · Post by **sumachechi** » Fri Feb 13, 2015 8:32 pm

Its a mixed bag. We also returned from the UK. Elder kid had finished primary school there and second was in early primary. Today my elder child is appearing 12th boards in less than 3 weeks time.
IGCSE is a different curriculum and probably may not prepare your kid for Indian entrance exams. however, its more the coaching classes for entrances that probably prepare these kids better than the CBSE/ICSE school curriculum!
Secondly, what is the matter with moving to CBSE with Hindi ? Yeah ,they might score badly in Hindi for a couple of years but how much does that matter int eh long term? Or Sanskrit? Like kumte said, extra classes in the first year would also help
My older kid did Eng-Sanskrit-Hindi for 6/7, then Eng-Hindi-French IN 8 AND English - French in 9/10.
Younger one- Eng-Hindi-1/2, Eng-Mal-Hindi-3,4,5, Eng Hindi, Sanskrit- 6/7 and will move on like his sister in the next few years.

Regarding university- Your eldest has another 6 years at least- rules could change significantly in that time. Ive seen rules change( both favourably and unfavourably for OCI's) in the last few years , so this is likely a volatile area.Some entrances allow you to qualify in general category and some dont. Then there are routes like DASA and other NRI admission routes.
And of course there are many other careers too apart from Medicine ,Engineering.
You are absolutely right that you lose your UK domicile option for local university grad applications.
You have to weigh all your options and make your decision.

vijay7an · Post by **vijay7an** » Sat Feb 14, 2015 9:04 am

[QUOTENow after 4 years he is like a local. Since he studied 5 years here he is eligible for local engg / med colleges.

Kumte: Thank you so much for replying. However is your child a foreign National with OCI? How does he become eligible under the general category?

vijay7an · Post by **vijay7an** » Sat Feb 14, 2015 9:07 am

Sumachechi - my best wishes for your child for his exams!

Thank you for your view on the CBSE. You didn't specify too your nationality and if not Indian passport holder, how are you going to get out of paying dollar fees?

sumachechi · Post by **sumachechi** » Sat Feb 14, 2015 10:28 am

vijay7an;594411Sumachechi - my best wishes for your child for his exams!

Thank you for your view on the CBSE. You didn't specify too your nationality and if not Indian passport holder, how are you going to get out of paying dollar fees?[/QUOTE]

Hmmm- loaded question. THe obvious reason Iam writing on this thread is because we are UK national OCI too.
My child will write the entrance examiantions. She is neither interested in medicine or standard engineering fields, but her line oif interest requires that she appear for the exams( Pure Science which has limited number of instituitions). She has certain eligibilities and certain restrictions. If she is able to qualify for institutes via the exams, well and good. Else we have to go down the NRI dollar route. BITS has currently started OCI admissions via SAT scores and her scores are pretty good.
I agree that I think the government has not thought through the Resident OCI and in practice does not fulfil the official byline of OCI has parity with education like NRI's and that changes are being made all the time that can baffle anyone's logic.That requires cooperation from all OCIs living in india making a strong petition to highlight their existence and rights.
But at the end of the day one has to find ways and means within one's availability. So its going to be an interesting 6 months ahead. We will just support our kid looking at the best options she's got at the end of everything.
I believe too that while good instituitions have definite advantages, the good student can do well from anywhere. Hence ,I do not stress my life away thinking that if she doesnt make it to IISc, she aint going to achieve anything in life.
Equally am aware that 5 years down the line we are going to be revisiting this situation- and looking at the scene when my son finishes 10th, we are happy to consider even revoking the UK Passport if it gives him better options. Doing it now is too early because the situation could be quite different years down the line. Plus, no idea at all what would interest him to consider at the time.

sumachechi · Post by **sumachechi** » Sat Feb 14, 2015 10:32 am

Actually children are eligible for most entrance exams with OCI. They are not eligible for KVPY( but an NRI is) and from this year not eligible for general category seats to NIT's IIT's thro' JEE main and possibly general category seats in IITs too. According to the state of residence they are eligible for medical entrance exams and for seats. Kerala State does not discriminate an OCI who has domicile in the state.
Through DASA ( yes, you do pay in dollars) however your kid could be eligible for seats in most NITs and IIITs
Sastra and BITS allow OCIs to apply through general category as well as through NRI route.

kumte · Post by **kumte** » Sat Feb 14, 2015 11:21 am

vijay7an;594410[QUOTENow after 4 years he is like a local. Since he studied 5 years here he is eligible for local engg / med colleges.

Kumte: Thank you so much for replying. However is your child a foreign National with OCI? How does he become eligible under the general category?

Yes. He is a foreign citizen with OCI. In our state (Karnataka), the eligibility to write KCET (entrance exam for engg) is either the student studies 7 years in-state or one of the parents must have studied for 10 years in-state or the student can write a kannada exam to prove his domicile. Since I had studied in-state for 12 years, my son becomes eligible for KCET.

vijay7an · Post by **vijay7an** » Sat Feb 14, 2015 6:05 pm

Sumachechi I am going to sleep over your idea that things may change in time to come. My son is a very creative boy who went into a top independent school and I'm gutted to push him down the route of rote learning and reproducing. I'm in a big dilemma on the right thing to do. Whilst I wholly agree with you on the fact that there are several other courses, I do also feel it is not right to cut off any lines that he may want to have pursued for lack of my ability to fund them. That wouldn't be the case if he were in the UK. Will have to think hard again.

Kumte - lucky you:)
Goodluck!

Deepalucas · Post by **Deepalucas** » Wed Feb 18, 2015 5:50 pm

Sumachechi
We are OCI UK citizens presently in Trivandrum moving to Cochin next year . My daughter is in 10th now wanting to get into an IIT/NIT. I would like to discuss with you options we have . Please let me know how I can get in touch. I am new to the forum and haven't managed to figured out how to message you .
Thank You
Deepa