Cut off helpline is a project from FUEL to help Class X (Class 10th or SSC) and Class XII (Class 12th or HSC) students find which colleges are they eligible to get admission through the centralised admission process, based on their marks in their board exams and entrance tests.

Admissions to professional courses like engineering, management, medical, pharmacy etc and Class 11 colleges in some cities, after board exams are conducted through entrance exams like MH-CET or AIEEE and centralised admission processes. After students recieve their marks of the entrance tests, they have to apply for admission to these courses through the centralised admission processes. To claim admission through the centralised process, students have to specify upto 30 preferences of colleges in the option form. The computer aided system allots them one college out of these preferences, if and only if that student has secured marks more than the cut off marks of that college.

Cut off marks of colleges are not openly available. Students have no idea of which colleges they can be sure of getting admission to and apply for any colleges on their own perception. Many students lose out out on good colleges and land up in colleges that are not their first choices. So students need to know the right colleges before they fill up their option forms. Taking into consideration these problems, FUEL NGO has developed the cut off software to help students know exactly which are the best colleges for themselves. Students can use the software to find out colleges where could could be reasonably assured of getting admission to. Just enter your marks, other details and simpy walk away with a print out off all the colleges

How to use FUEL Cut off Software?
Class 10 students can use this helpline to find out Class 11 colleges in Arts, Science and Commerce. Class 12 science students can find suitable colleges Engineering, Medical, Pharmacy and Architecture colleges. To avoid misuse and to ensure uninterrupted access of this helpline, students will be allowed cut off search after registering all their details and entering Fuel Cut Off Codes. After registration, students will get access to a rich resource of all information regarding cut offs and their importance in the life of students. Students coming on to the helpline website for the first time, need to register themselves with all their details, their mobile number as the user name and password and then enter the Fuel Cut Off Code to access the helpline. Students returning to the helpline website can straightaway access the helpline after entering their user name, password and the Fuel Cut Off Code.

What are cut offs?
Cut offs or cut off marks are the deciding factor in any centralised admission process. Simply put in common language, cut offs are the marks at which admissions to any college are closed. Thus students securing less marks than the cut offs of any particular college, are not eligible to get admission to that college. The admission to professional courses after Class XII, like engineering, medical, pharmacy & architecture across Maharashtra and also to Class XI colleges in Pune, Mumbai and Kolhapur are done through the centralised admission process. So all students would have to pass through cut offs twice or thrice in their lives, which is why cut offs are of prime importance. Let us try to understand this with an example. Suppose a Class XI college has 516 out of 600 (that is 86%) as the cut off marks. So in the centralised admission process, this college will give admission to only those students who have secured MORE THAN OR EQUAL TO 86% marks in the Class X (SSC) exams. This college may not take students who have, for example, 80% or 70% marks. Alternatively, if a student has secured 86% marks in the Class X exam, he will be eligible to get admission to any colleges whose cut off marks are LESS THAN OR EQUAL TO 86%. This is just a basic explanation only for understanding the importance of cut off marks. This sounds simple but the actual process is not as simple because it depends on many other factors like constitutional reservation categories, total number of applicants, the number of seats available etc. All these factors put together govern the centralised admission process. 

Why does a student need cut offs?
A student needs the information of cut offs so that he/she knows which college he/she will be eligible to get admission to. A student also needs this information so that in the option form he/she can claim admission to only those colleges he/she is eligible to get admission to rather than writing any college and wasting the options. This will ensure that the student gets admission to only those colleges that are his/her choice. 

How does a student find cut offs of colleges?
The information of cut off marks is not openly available at this point in an easy, actionable and understandable format. So currently students write options of colleges which they think are suitable for them. However, many times the choice goes wrong and students actually land up at colleges that are not the best fit for them. Just because they have written any random option in their option forms, we have seen students from Pune getting a college in Mumbai even though they were eligible for an equally good college closer to their home. In order to relieve students of such problems, Fuel has developed the developed the cut off helpline, which gives students a clear idea of which colleges they are eligible to apply. Students can access the helpline at a nominal cost that supports the technical maintenance of the website. 

What is the centralised admission process and how does it function?
The centralised admission process is a computer-aided merit based process for giving admission to students. Application forms of all students passing the eligibility test are collected at a single place, processed through the computer and then the computerised system allots seats to the applicants based on their marks in the entrance tests, board exams, the options filled up by the student, number of seats available etc.