NEET Counselling 2025: MBBS fees skyrocket, cross Rs 1 crore at 32 deemed-university medical colleges

NEET Counselling 2025: With the NEET UG counselling 2025 set to begin next week, the aspirants seeking admission to medical colleges under deemed-to-be universities will have to shell out substantially more money in MBBS fees. For deemed universities, admission counselling following the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) is conducted by the central Medical Counselling Committee (MCC).
Live Updates: NEET UG counselling 2025.

While most of these institutes have increased their yearly charges by a few lakhs, one has recorded a whopping Rs 8 lakh annual rise. The maximum per annum MBBS fees has now reached an eye-popping Rs 30.5 lakh.

That's almost Rs 1.37 crore for the four-and-a-half years of the programme; with hostel, mess and university fee worked in, an MBBS student will be over Rs 1.5 crore in the red by the time they become a doctor.

And if three years ago, in 2022-23, the number of colleges with a crore plus overall tuition fee was 16, it has doubled to 32 today, accounting for more than half of all deemed institutes.

The findings are based on a review of the fee structures of the undergraduate medical course for academic year 2025-26 at 54 private medical colleges in deemed universities around the country by Careers360 and Muzaffar Khan, a medical education counsellor based in Thane, Maharashtra.

Only the tuition and other annual fees for regular management seats have been considered for this analysis, excluding the additional one-time payments made at the time of admission as well as the cost of optional services such as hostel, mess and transportation. The colleges usually have different fee calculations for non-resident Indian (NRI) candidates . While the annual charges remain constant throughout the duration of the course at most institutes, a few have yearly increments.

MBBS fees in private medical colleges

The privately-run deemed universities, with little government control over their affairs, have always been under the scanner for their exorbitant fees.

In Tamil Nadu, by way of comparison, the recently-fixed MBBS fee rates for self-financing colleges – Rs 4.5 lakh for general seats and Rs 15 lakh for management quota seats – is significantly lower than the charges imposed by the deemed institutes in the state.

Highlighting the high cost of medical education in private medical colleges, the parliamentary panel on health, earlier this year, had sought a 50% reduction in fees and curbs on capitation fees.

The analysis shows that 36 or two-thirds of 54 deemed universities have revised their fees, while the remaining 18 have persisted with last year’s rates.

The fee hike spans from less than Rs 1 lakh to Rs 4 lakh – the Rs 8 lakh spike being the outlier – with the average difference amounting to around Rs 1.45 lakh. In relative terms, the surge is evenly spread across a range of 2% to 22%, with a mean uptick of close to 7 percentage points.

Highest MBBS fees: Crore-plus club

The most exponential growth was registered by JR Medical College in Tamil Nadu’s Viluppuram, which after charging Rs 18 lakh per annum from its inaugural MBBS batch in 2024-25, increased the amount by 44% to Rs 26 lakh. In doing so, it galloped from one of the relatively-affordable institutes on the list to one of the most expensive ones.

The Smt BK Shah Medical Institute and Research Centre in Gujarat’s Vadodara raised its annual fees to Rs 22.75 lakh, Rs 4 lakh more than Rs 18.75 lakh it charged during the previous three academic years. The institute was followed by Aarupadai Veedu Medical College, Puducherry and Meenakshi Medical College, Chennai, each of which added Rs 3.5 lakh to take their annual cost to Rs 23 lakh.

With a Rs 3 lakh hike, Chennai’s Sree Balaji Medical College will levy Rs 30.5 lakh this year, becoming the most expensive medical college.

It has overtaken the runner-up, Sri Ramachandra Institute of Higher Education and Research – located in the same city at less than an hour’s drive – which continued with last year’s rate of Rs 30 lakh. A hub of deemed university medical colleges, Tamil Nadu, especially the state capital and its suburbs, and Puducherry , are also home to some of the costliest of them.

Pune’s Bharati Vidyapeeth's Medical College (Rs 28.6 lakh annual fee) and DY Patil group’s medical colleges in Pune and Navi Mumbai (Rs 27 lakh annual fee) are others at the top of the price table.

Medical colleges with highest MBBS course fees (in Rs. lakh)

The trend lines since 2022-23 suggest that while some colleges gradually revise their fees every year, others keep them stable for two-three years. The Sree Balaji College, for instance, steadily increased its fees from Rs 25 lakh three years ago, registering a cumulative growth of Rs 5.5 lakh till date.

The Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences, Kochi, on the other hand, would charge Rs 19 lakh in 2022-23 and 2023-24, before a single-year Rs 6 lakh hike in the last academic session. There has been no increase since then.

Lowest MBBS fees

Of those who didn’t increase their rates this year, the majority happen to be MBBS colleges with the lowest fees among deemed institutes. In fact, some of them have not changed their fee structure during the last two or three cycles.

The Symbiosis Medical College for Women in Pune has maintained the lowest price tag of Rs 10 lakh per annum, at least since 2022-23.

Kalinga Institute of Medical Sciences, Bhubaneswar, too, has continued with Rs 18.5 lakh during this period. The Hamdard Institute of Medical Sciences and Research in New Delhi, after revising its tuition fee from Rs 14 lakh to Rs 16 lakh in 2023-24, hasn’t had any hike.

Medical colleges with the lowest fees (in Rs. lakh)

Criticising the ever-rising cost of medical education, Khan has sought government intervention in regulating the fees at deemed colleges.

“There seems to be no respite from the fee hike. While the government had earlier talked about bringing down the fees for half of the private college seats at par with the government institutes, nothing has happened,” he said.

Khan was referring to the National Medical Commission (NMC) deciding to cap the fees for at least 50% of seats in private and deemed-university medical colleges at the level of charges at government institutes. However, that 2022 proposal never saw the light of the day.

When Careers360 had asked the previous NMC chairperson BN Gangadhar a couple of months ago about plans to regulate fees, he didn’t offer any specifics other than urging institutes to display their fees and stipend amounts online .

“It’s difficult to comment on finance. The fee regulation is a sensitive area. I believe we have to reduce the fees. There are many people to advise on it,” he had said.

The NEET UG counselling schedule 2025 is out; registration, at mcc.nic.in, will start on July 21.