Bengaluru, Jul 23: Students vying for a coveted medical seat under the NRI and management quota in private colleges will have to fork out anywhere between Rs. 99 lakh and Rs. 1.88 crore for the course.
Those who have been tracking the education sector say this is a more than 40% increase compared to the previous year when the maximum fee was Rs. 1.3 crore.
The hike is being attributed to the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET), which is the only gateway for a medical or dental seat in India.
As per the fee structure displayed on the Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA) website, the cost of a four-and-a-half-year medical course in 26 private medical colleges ranges from Rs. 22 lakh to Rs. 41.98 lakh per annum.
Colleges reserve 15% of the seats for Non-Resident Indians, Persons of Indian Origin, Overseas Citizen Of India and foreigners under the NRI quota, and another 5% are admitted under the management quota. Candidates applying for these seats should have obtained a ranking in the NEET, but managements are free to fix the fees for this quota.
A parent of a medical seat aspirant, who was hoping to get a seat in the management quota, said, “We understand these are not merit seats and are costly. But good colleges charge around Rs. 1.5 crore, which is beyond our reach.”
Officials in the Medical Education Department pointed out that colleges had ‘intentionally’ hiked the fees this year.
“Managements know that nobody will apply for these seats due to the prohibitive fees. If they are not taken after the second round and the mop-up round during common counselling, we will have to send the seats back to the colleges which will distribute them among candidates of their choice,” a source explained.
However, they pointed out that a ‘positive development’ is that fees for the NRI and management quota have been made transparent, as the KEA is conducting the counselling process.
M.R. Jayaram, chairman, Karnataka Professional Colleges Foundation, denied a hike in fees in this category. Only a ‘few’ colleges have opted for a hike, he said.
Management quota seats for a four-year dental course will cost between Rs. 3 lakh and Rs. 7.5 lakh per annum as per data from 31 colleges. There is no change in the number of seats. Seats in the NRI quota are filled by colleges.
“The demand for dental seats is less compared to medical seats. Increase or decrease in the fees for management quota seats will be around 5%,” said A.V.S. Murthy, Secretary, R.V. Dental College.
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