'Extra fees, curtailed holidays': CUET results delay worries students, force them to look for fallback

This time the exam was held between May 15 and 24 in hybrid mode across 379 locations for around 13.48 lakh students.

Amid the NEET-UG row, another NTA-administered exam is in the news again. The results of the Common University Entrance Test (CUET) UG 2024, which took place in May, have not yet been announced. The NTA is expected to release the results soon but has not announced its exact date and time yet.

According to a report by Times of India, a Mumbai-based private university, Somaiya Vidyavihar, which was supposed to admit students based on their undergraduate CUET scores, is now holding induction programmes for freshmen. Seats are all filled, and admissions closed.

Here are the issues that may arise due to late results. 

Results were delayed last year too. As a result, some universities pulled out of CUET. This time the exam was held between May 15 and 24 in hybrid mode across 379 locations for around 13.48 lakh students.

Most private universities accept CUET scores and hold their own entrance tests. If the results are delayed and institutions wait for CUET results, the academic calendar will be postponed. However, in that case extra classes may be needed to finish the curriculum and holidays may have to be shortened.

Some worried students are also arranging for fallbacks. Ekta Jain, who wants to study psychology, told TOI that she has already secured a spot in another college.

According to the report, the University Grants Commission (UGC) had issued a directive saying tuition paid by students should be refunded by September if admission is cancelled. However, many students will still lose the money they paid as hostel fees. Apart from this, they will also shell out extra money for the back-up admission.

Nyasa Gautam, from Indore, told TOI that the back-up admission cost has also added to the students’ stress.

Meanwhile, universities have started accepting students based on their own admission exams or other test scores, reported TOI.

Neelakanttan T A, from Thiruvananthapuram, said he preferred a central university. But since Azim Premji university admissions are open, he enrolled.

Some institutions are expecting the academic calendar to be impacted. Hyderabad institutions are waiting for CUET results. “We are hoping that the results will be declared in a day or two so that we won’t lose much,” said Ishtiaque Ahmed, registrar, Maulana Azad National Urdu University.

Visva Bharati’s acting public relations officer, Atig Ghosh, said extra classes or shortening vacations will have to be considered if CUET results are not announced soon.

Kanhaiya Ahuja, CUET admissions coordinator at Indore’s DAVV, told TOI that the delay leaves only a little over three months to complete the syllabus for the first semester.

Meanwhile, the delay has pushed back the calendar by at least a fortnight for Central University of Gujarat (CUG), the only university in the state admitting students through the central test.

Darshan Maru, controller of examination at CUG, told TOI that the PG admissions were over for 300 plus students, but admissions are pending for undergraduate courses. “We have 100-odd seats in three disciplines where admissions take place through CUET. Last year too, these admissions had started in Aug,” he told TOI.