Is the fees charged by coaching institutes justified?
Option one: You study back home
1. General Studies
Books : Rs. 10000
Newspapers : Rs. 500 monthly ( Total : 12000 for 2 years; you will anyway subscribe, whether you are preparing or not)
Periodicals : Rs. 1000 for frontline (2 years) + Rs.1000 for EPW ( one year)
Net connection : 500 per month ( Total : 12000; you will anyway subscribe, whether you are preparing or not)
Total Cost : Around 36000 ( over 2 years )
2. Optional:
Books: 4-5 books for humanities optionals ( Mostly Indian Authors). Total cost : Not more than Rs. 5000.
7-8 books for science optionals. Total cost: Not more than Rs. 7000 ( If you are not downloading pirated copies).
Total Extra cost : Rs. 20000 ( Highly liberal estimate and spend over 2 years). Use library, old books or pirated copies and you can bring that down to a few thousand rupees.
Option two : You go to Delhi to attend coaching.
1. Coaching fees :
G.S : Rs, 150,000-200000
Optional : Rs. 60,000-100000
Total : Rs. 2,10,000 (spot payment)[ considered the least amount]
2. Periodicals, newspapers, net for personal use : Rs. 20,000 over 2 years.
3. High rent and cost of living : Around 12k every month.
Including Total extra Cost : Around
5.5 Lakhs ( Conservative estimate; multiply with no.of failed attempts, extra fee for extra coaching etc). And even after paying such huge, exorbitant costs, the quality of teaching ( as I get to know from fellow aspirants) may not always be up to the mark.
