K Preethi*, who scored 186 out of 200 cut-off in the Tamil Nadu Engineering Admissions (TNEA), has received offers from three private engineering colleges to take admission into their college for free. The colleges have promised to bear her tuition fee and hostel expenses.

Perplexed with the opportunities, Preethi's single mother wants her admitted to any of these colleges, while she already has got a seat in Anna University's MIT college. Preethi's mother works in a private company for a meagre salary and arranging the fees of Anna University (a government college) will be a herculean task for her. So she is getting lured by the offers of these private engineering colleges.

And this is not a lone case. To boost their reputation, private engineering colleges, mostly in Tier II and III cities, are luring toppers by offering them free seats. Experts said the practice was prevalent in previous years too but this year it has become more rampant.

"Earlier, only a few colleges used to do such marketing techniques to attract students, but this year over two dozen colleges are offering free seats," said career consultant Jayaprakash Gandhi.

"The move will help private engineering colleges to enhance their standing. If students scoring 180 and above join these colleges, then the cut-off for these colleges will automatically go up next year," added Gandhi.

Faculty of the private colleges said this move will also improve the ranking of the colleges.

"This year Anna University has released a rank list of colleges based on a five-year average of cut-off marks required for admission to the Computer Science Engineering branch. By using this marketing strategy, the private colleges will release their rankings next year, even though they don't have the quality infrastructure or faculty," said L Satheesh, a faculty member of a private college.

However, the faculty at Anna University has advised students not to fall into such traps and opt for government colleges if they are eligible. "For poor students, who cannot afford to pay the annual fees, there are a lot of scholarship programmes and stipends available at the university," said a faculty member.