No Capitation Fee due to NEET, Private Medical Colleges Resort to Ridiculous Hike in Tuition Fees

Private medical colleges across the country have substantially hiked tuition fees and ironically the cost of medical education in government colleges remain the same. This became apparent after the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) becoming a hurdle to charging capitation fees.

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Of all the states Tamil Nadu saw the highest rise in the cost of private medical education. At SRM Medical college Chennai, the tuition fee is now INR 21 lakh a year or total INR 94.5 lakh for the four-and-a-half year MBBS course. Last year it was INR 10 lakh per annum. Expenses on books and lodging are not included here.

• The annual tuition fee has been revised from INR 8 lakh to INR 12.5 lakh in Katihar Medical College in north Bihar.
• Tuition fees in the management quota are up from INR 15 lakh to INR 18 lakh in Delhi, at the Hamdard Institute of Medical Sciences.

Private medical colleges come under the umbrella of the Supreme Court appointed fee committees in every state. Deemed universities do not come under the states' radar, giving them the opportunity to arbitrarily fix fees.

• Dr. D Y Patil Medical College, Navi Mumbai, the annual fee stood at INR 8.5 lakh. This year, it's up by 32%. Now students now have to pay INR 16.5 lakh every year and INR 76.2 lakh for their entire session.
• Saveetha University,Chennai the annual tuition fee has gone up from Rs 9 lakh last year to INR 15 lakh now.

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Defending their stand privates universities say that MCI stipulations for hospitals and college infrastructure are very stringent. They also need to woo faculty from clinical practice, which isn't easy. Some heads also mentioned competition from other medical colleges as a reason for increasing their fees.

Now studying medicine in the private sector could be most expensive some states like in Tamil Nadu.

Parent of several students reacted strongly to the move to increase the fee. They said that now medical colleges are doing brisk business while students' dream to study medicine is shattered.