NEET PG Counselling: At private medical colleges, deemed-university tag brings up to 1,471% fee hike

The four Tamil Nadu (TN) medical colleges granted deemed-to-be university tags by the centre this year have jacked up their fees for postgraduation (PG) medical courses manifold – almost 16 times, or by 1,471%, in some cases. Meanwhile, DY Patil University’s medical college in Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra, has recorded a single-year 24% hike in its MD Radiodiagnosis fee, making it the costliest PG course ever at Rs 2.61 crore in overall programme cost.

With these hikes, as many as 12 out of 54 medical schools under deemed universities participating in the ongoing MCC NEET PG counselling 2026 will charge over Rs 2 crore in overall tuition fee for the three-year MD/MS programmes, shows an analysis by Careers360 and Muzaffar Khan, a Thane (Maharashtra)-based medical education counsellor.

The fee figures cited in this analysis include the cumulative tuition fees for the three-year course as well as other major amounts charged one-time at the time of admission. It excludes the fees for hostel and mess facilities, which are compulsory at some institutes, and, in some cases, vary depending on the type of accommodation being provided to the students. While most of the colleges charge a uniform amount for each of the academic years, some increase it annually in the range of 2.5% to 10%. The fees for 15% non-resident Indian (NRI)-quota seats is significantly more across the institutes. 

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Admission to postgraduate medical programmes is via the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test for PG (NEET PG exam) and counselling for 100% of deemed-university seats is managed centrally by the Medical Counselling Commission (MCC) of the health ministry’s Directorate General of Health Services. The first seat allotment for MCC NEET PG counselling 2026 is on October 24. 

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The private deemed universities, which enjoy broad academic and administrative autonomy, charge significantly higher fees than medical colleges affiliated to state public and private universities, whose fees are capped by the respective state fee-regulating authorities. The latest cycle of fee hikes has once again ignited the demands for more government control over the deemed medical colleges' fees.

The fee structures released by the four Tamil Nadu medical colleges, which obtained the deemed-university status from the education ministry despite opposition from the state government, shows that they will be charging anywhere between Rs 25 lakh and Rs 55 lakh per annum in tuition fee for clinical branches and between zero and Rs 15 lakh for pre- and para-clincial streams – collectively also referred to as ‘non-clincial’ streams. 

This is a significant increase compared to Rs 3.5 lakh and Rs 3 lakh annual fee determined by the TN fee fixation committee for clinical and non-clinical government-quota seats, respectively, in private self-financed medical colleges. The cost for management quota seats at these institutes has been set at Rs 16 lakh and Rs 5 lakh for the two categories of specialisations.

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In August, Careers360 had reported a similar, if relatively smaller, jump in the fees for MBBS at the newly-labelled deemed universities in the southern state, which along with the neighbouring Puducherry, has the highest concentration of medical colleges attached to deemed varsities. They are also some of the most expensive ones in the country.

While two of the medical colleges – Karpaga Vinayaga Institute of Medical Sciences, Kancheepuram (KIMS) and St. Peter’s Medical College, Hosur (SPMCH) – left The Tamil Nadu Dr MGR Medical University (TNMGRMU), the state health sciences university, the other two – Trichy-based Dhanalakshmi Srinivasan Institute of Medical Sciences (DSMCH) and Srinivasan Medical College – changed their status from a state private university to a deemed university. The state has claimed that the colleges managed to do so through “legal loopholes” and has challenged their conversion in Madras High Court.

NEET PG: DY Patil University radiology most expensive MD

Of over 1,000 PG programmes reviewed by Careers360 across 54 medical colleges under deemed universities, almost one-third recorded hikes of varying degrees this year. Most of the others continued with the last year’s amounts, while a few, mostly non-clinical courses, witnessed a drop in their cost.

Among the existing deemed university colleges, Dr DY Patil Medical College Navi Mumbai, registered the steepest increase of over Rs 50 lakh for its radiodiagnosis programme. With a 2.5% yearly increment, the overall cost of the course has reached Rs 2.61 crore, the highest by far. It’s followed by its sister institute, Dr DY Patil Medical College, Kolhapur, which increased the cost of its MS OB-GYN programme by Rs 27 lakh, a 29% increase over Rs 93.3 lakh charged in 2025-26. 

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Another Maharashtra institute, Bharati Vidyapeeth Medical College, Pune, has hiked its fees by 20% across the majority of its clinical courses, with its dermatology and radiodiagnosis programmes now costing Rs 1.69 crore.

However, the list of the most expensive courses continues to be dominated by colleges in the South – especially those located in and around the TN capital Chennai, Karnataka capital Bengaluru and the union territory of Puducherry. Santosh Medical College, Ghaziabad in the National Capital Region (NCR), too, figures in the list with a Rs 2.28 crore price tag for its radiodiagnosis programme.

The analysis shows that as many as 23 programmes at 12 deemed institutes now cost upward of Rs 2 crore – a course more than last year. There’s, however, a considerable increase in the share of courses that have breached Rs 1 crore mark in overall cost from last year’s 34% to north of 39%. 

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The clinical courses continue to be significantly costlier than non-clinical ones. As in previous years, dermatology and radiodiagnosis stand out as the most expensive courses, thanks to their popularity among PG medical aspirants. In contrast, the low-in-demand pre-clinical programmes – anatomy, physiology and biochemistry – are offered free-of-cost at several institutions.

Expressing anguish at the unprecedented hike at the top deemed university colleges, Khan bats for a greater role for the government authorities in curbing their exorbitant fees. “The National Medical Commission (NMC) Act provides for regulating fees at 50% of the private and deemed medical college seats. But the regulator is yet to take a concerted effort in enforcing this provision,” he said.

Even though NMC, in 2022, did frame guidelines to regulate half the fees at the private deemed universities, they never saw light of the day thanks to a legal challenge from the institutes.