Nearly three lakh undergraduate seats remain vacant in Telangana after multiple admission rounds. Low student interest in conventional degree courses, declining rural enrolment and a mismatch between eligible students and available seats have contributed to the poor admissions across colleges.
Published Date – 17 July 2026, 07:10 PM
Hyderabad: Even after multiple rounds of admissions, nearly three lakh degree seats are lying vacant in Telangana, reflecting poor demand for conventional undergraduate programmes in the State. A total of 4,37,809 seats were up for grabs in 929 degree colleges. However, only 1,41,143 had takers as of Thursday.
As per the information available with the Telangana Council of Higher Education, this time, only 1,19,016 out of 3,71,919 seats in 780 degree colleges were filled after three rounds of Degree Online Services Telangana (DOST) counselling. Similarly, 79 welfare residential degree colleges filled 9,271 out of 23,834 available seats. Seventy colleges, which are not part of the DOST system, admitted 12,856 students, leaving 42,056 seats vacant.
Poor enrolment was particularly seen in rural areas, where several degree colleges have failed to attract students. Several colleges have filled less than 15 per cent of their sanctioned intake, while more than 70 colleges did not secure a single admission. The situation is alarming in 580 private degree colleges, where only 59,615 seats have been filled, leaving a staggering 1,88,715 seats vacant, which account for the majority of vacant degree seats in the State. The 36 autonomous government degree colleges registered 27,434 admissions out of 45,120 seats, while the 116 government degree colleges reported 31,551 vacancies. Given the admission trend, degree admissions in the State might not cross the two lakh mark.
Apart from the waning interest among students in pursuing degree programmes, there is a huge mismatch between the number of students clearing Intermediate every year and the degree seats available. This year, around 4,23,129 students passed Intermediate, while there are 4,37,809 seats on offer in the State, which is more than the total number of eligible students.
Further, not all Intermediate pass-outs choose conventional degree courses, as thousands of them opt for professional programmes such as engineering, pharmacy, BSc Agriculture, biotechnology and Pharm.D. This has reduced the number of students available for admission into degree colleges, leading to a mismatch between the number of students and the intake in degree programmes.
For detailed interactive infographic, click the link: dost-admissions-2025
