We recently got an email query from a student where he felt that an entrance fee and entrance test for SFG is unnecessary. He felt that the step was to add an additional revenue stream to the course fee.
Civil Services aspirants ( and if you are with Forum, we are expecting that you prefix adjective “successful” to it ) are expected to have a level 2 and level 3 thinking – and not a level 1, prima facie clerical thinking. So this post is those of you who like to think beyond what appears in the face.
It is true that ForumIAS is a for -profit organisation, and is a thought leader in Civil Services preparation – the very reason that mentorship prgrams exist is because we were pioneers and several people make a living off creating duplicate programs copying names and ideas – such as CAMPA , SFG etc.
Our line of thinking is along this.
The SFG remains a popular program with nearly every third candidate who gets in the final list in Civil Services having done SFG at least once for clearing the Prelims. We feel that if the admission process was click and buy, it would not be possible to conduct the program as we do it now.
Currently, the highest charges for SFG is Rs. 100/ day. Costs of conducting any program should not exceed 20% to 33% to make it commerically viable – excluding the Intelletual efforts and labour that went into it. Currently, the rental cost of conducting a test ( like SFG ) is Rs 40/ – Rs. 50/- student for non-AC arrangements and Rs. 65/ student for AC arrangements ( whether you use the AC or not, is irrelevant , if the class has AC, thats the charge – just like you cant sit in 2AC in a train and later put a mail to the railway minister saying I did not use the AC as it was winter ). Printing costs and logistics eventually cost Rs. 20/ day when solutions are not given in hard copy.
What is further left is
- Mental Labour cost of making the paper
- Organisational Overheads [ Rs. 200/ student / day to keep team of 300 people floating and alive + having a rental property as BIG as Kalyan Jewellers in Karol Bagh]
- Human Resources for conducting the test at odd office hours.
We cannot survive if people who do SFG with us (a) don’t clear the prelims and come to us for Mains examination OR (b) frivolous students who won’t study and wont come to us for Mains. Since offline seats are limited, if they are booked in advance by the people who are weakly resolved, we are done!
Keeping a registration fee and a little complex admission process, ensures
(a) frivolous crowd does not join us [ its not easy to register ]
(b) Onus of waking up and writing test at 7AM is on student – and after 3 days the bogus kid will come and say I can’t write at 7AM
(c) Since there is no barrier impulse buying will happen because a Youtube student will see that it is done by Toppers like Ishita Kishore ( Rank 1) or Shah Margi ( Rank 4 ) or virtually every third selected candidate.
(d) While every candidate can become a topper, a large number of peoples simply don’t have the will power.
(e) The most bogus crowd if allowed will lose 7K as he/ she will buy the course impulsively , and he wont be able to follow the plan. This way, after entrance test, he doesnt show up and only loses 800 Rs. the rest is contributed via GST to nation building. It is almost like a refund of the course fee were he to buy the whole course.
(f) By not having long term committment, the student gets 3 opportunities to withdraw admission – and not lose money – first , after paying for entrance and not writing entrance , Second after entrance and being selected, not going for first month. Third, after 1 month, if he feels he cannot follow the plan ( or does not want to prepare for UPSC as he hates the torture )
Clarification : By bogus crowd or bogus student, we do not mean a student who is permanently non-serious. By bogus, we mean a phase in our preparation where (a) we are not serious , playing around / fooling around with the exam – because we have money, age, parental trust and support on our side and we do not know what we are doing is non-serious. People who have a good peer group OR people who have at least had good educational background once OR people with none of the above, but have a brain wired for success [ attitude] OR people after 3 attempts of doing edTech / treating UPSC like a netflix subscription generally get serious. Being bogus, clueless and non-serious is usually a phase, its not YOU permanently. And if its you, well , good luck with life!
Similarly, for Level 2, there are 3 barriers to avoid mis-selling. The entrance test and part payment of fees twice. It is always profitable to offer a concession and ask someone to pay the full fee at one go, but then there is no way to monitor if the student is benefitting from the program or not. Having soft barriers to admissions helps retain only the students who benefit from the programs, and not impulsive buyers.
