NEET Counselling 2026: MBBS fees cross Rs 1 crore at 46 medical colleges, soar at new deemed universities

NEET Counselling 2026: The medical aspirants and their parents seeking admission to two Tamil Nadu medical colleges that recently got deemed-university status will have to spend anywhere between 48% to 363% more in tuition fees. Almost 75% of deemed university colleges around the country have now crossed Rs 1 crore mark in overall cost of the MBBS programme for the ongoing NEET counselling 2026, conducted by the Medical Counselling Committee (MCC).

The Dhanalakshmi Srinivasan Medical College, Perambalur and Srinivasan Medical College Tiruchirapalli, both part of Dhanalakshmi Srinivasan University, have hiked their annual MBBS fees to Rs 24 lakh and Rs 25 lakh, respectively, up from Rs 5.4 lakh for state quota seats and Rs 16.2 lakh for management quota seats which they were allowed to charge as self-financed medical colleges affiliated to The Tamil Nadu Dr. MGR Medical University.

An analysis of the MBBS fee structure of 62 colleges at deemed universities for the academic year 2026-27 by Careers360 and Muzaffar Khan, a medical education counsellor based in Thane, Maharashtra, shows that the cumulative cost of education at 46 of the colleges has crossed Rs 1 crore. That’s eight more institutes in this fee bracket compared to last year, when 38 out of 59 of these medical schools – the remaining three were added this year – charged crore-plus fees. The admission process for these institutions has already begun.

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The cost includes the entire tuition fees for the four-and-a-half years’ course as well as other additional amounts charged one-time at the time of admission and annually under myriad heads such as registration, examination, books, uniform, and 'research and development'. It, however, excludes the fees for hostel and mess facilities – which are compulsory at some institutes and optional at others – as they sometimes vary depending on the type of accommodation being provided to the students.

While most of the colleges charge a uniform annual MBBS fee for the first four years, and half the amount for the final semester, some have increments ranging from 2.5% to 15%. The non-resident Indian (NRI) candidates, who have 15% seats reserved for them at deemed university medical colleges, are charged significantly more across the institutes.

Unlike the medical colleges affiliated to state and central universities, whose fees are capped by their respective fee-regulating authorities, the private deemed universities have little government control over their affairs, leading to considerably higher cost. They impose uniform fees for all students, irrespective of their caste or class category.

Admission to these is conducted centrally by the Medical Council Committee (MCC) as part of the All India Quota (AIQ) counselling after the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) .

MBBS fees soar at new deemed universities

Three of the new entrants to the deemed university college list – two of them in Tamil Nadu – have all started with above Rs 1 crore fees. The table below shows how much each is charging.

Data was not available for two institutions in Tamil Nadu.

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The Sri Ramchandra Institute of Higher Education and Research (SRIHER) in Chennai, which breached the Rs 1.5 crore mark last year in its overall cost, continues to be the costliest medical education institute in the country. The institute has hiked its annual fees from Rs 30 lakh to Rs 35 lakh, though it has modified the payment arrangement from five equal installments to yearly deposits for four and a half years - similar to other medical education institutions. The total programme cost has still risen to Rs 1.58 crore.

The institute is followed by three other colleges in and around the Tamil Nadu capital – Sree Balaji Medical College and Hospital (SBMCH) Chennai; SRM Medical College, Hospital and Research Centre (part of SRM IST), Kancheepuram, and Saveetha Medical College and Hospitals (SMCH) Chennai – and Mahatma Gandhi Medical College and Research Institute (MGMCRI) Puducherry.

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The southern state and union territory have the highest concentration of medical colleges attached to deemed universities. They are also among the most expensive ones in the country. This year, four new institutes in the state got deemed status from the centre , following which The Tamil Nadu Dr MGR Medical University, the state university affiliating these colleges, challenged the University Grants Commission's (UGC) regulations permitting grant of deemed university tag without express consent from the state varsities.

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The majority of the deemed university colleges – 41 out of 59 reviewed by Careers360 – have hiked their fees this year, with the growth rates ranging from less than one percent to 29%. Others either maintained the previous year's fees or cut it to various degrees.

While the institutes with the most exorbitant charges recorded relatively modest hikes this year, two Bhubaneswar-based colleges at the bottom of the fee table – Siksha 'O' Anusandhan University’s Institute of Medical Sciences & SUM Hospital (IMS and SH) Campus II and Kalinga Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS) – joined the crore-plus club with the highest annual growth in 2026-27. The former increased its total fees from Rs 80.78 lakh to Rs 1.04 crore – a 29% surge – bringing it at par with Shiksha ‘O’ Anusandhan’s main medical college, also named IMS and SH. KIMS Bhubaneswar registered a 21% increase, from Rs 84 lakh to Rs 1.04 crore.

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Two constituent colleges each of Karnataka’s KLE Academy of Higher Education and Research (KAHER) – Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College (JNMC) Belagavi and JGMM Medical College, Hubballi – and Maharashtra’s Datta Meghe Institute of Higher Education and Research – Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College (JNMC), Wardha and Datta Meghe Medical College, Nagpur – are among those with notable hikes.

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Two medical schools each belonging to Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham (AVV) – located in Kochi and Faridabad – and Maharashtra’s Bharati Vidyapeeth (BV) – located in Sangli and Pune – are a few of the high-charging institutes that reduced their fees considerably. The Amrita School of Medicine, Kochi brought its cost down by Rs 12.5 lakh – a 10% reduction from Rs 1.27 crore, while BV institutes had their fees cut by more than Rs 10 lakh or 8.5%.

The Symbiosis Medical College in Pune, a women-only institute, continues to be at the lowest end of the fee spectrum, charging Rs 54.2 lakh – same as the previous year.

Three medical colleges associated with the Karnataka’s Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE) – Kasturba Medical College (KMC) Manipal, KMC Mangalore and Manipal-Tata Medical College, Jamshedpur – and Hamdard Institute of Medical Sciences and Research (HMISR), New Delhi, are among the relatively affordable institutes which recorded marginal increase this year.

Khan has been advocating for greater government intervention in the fee fixation at deemed university colleges. “The colleges should [have a] flat annual fees for a particular batch in place of yearly increments at certain institutes,“ he said.

While the National Medical Commission (NMC) in 2022 had framed guidelines to regulate half the fees at the private deemed universities , the policy got stuck after it was challenged in courts.