FINANCIAL PROBLEMS FACED BY UNAIDED EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS

India is looking forward to reap what is called the demographic dividend, thanks to its current demographic profile dominated by the youth. However for this to happen, education holds the key. Government has been seeking an active partnership from the private sector to augment its own effort in providing education particularly higher education that demands significant investment. Private sector has responded to this call from the Government and over the last 2 decades or so we have seen a phenomenal rise in the number of private unaided educational institutions in the higher education segment. However problems like delays in the payment of salaries to staff, poor infrastructure, sub-standard quality of education galore particularly in case of institutions in the semi-urban and rural areas. This article summarizes the research that was carried to understand the ground level difficulties faced by such institutions with reference to financial management practices and funding. Objective was to move one step forward from apparent symptoms like delays in payment of salaries towards real issues so that solutions can be found out. It is felt that small steps from each of the stakeholders ? government, educational institutions and banks ? can lead to a major overall improvement that can benefit billions of students who are the future of India.