Bangalore: The only thing that has changed is the cost of studying for an MBBS in Karnataka, where the government has finally increased by 10% the undergraduate medical course fees payable in private colleges for the 2024–2025 academic year.

As a result, last year fees, which were at INR 9,94,906 have been replaced by this year’s INR 11,88,161. Last year, government quota medical seats cost Rs 1,28,746; however, under the new arrangement fees for these seats in private medical colleges have gone up to Rs 1,40,621.

The state government made this announcement after deliberating with the management of private medical institutes on August 17th, 2024 as a means of addressing growing operational costs at such establishments. In spite of initially demanding a fee hike ranging from between fifteen and twenty percent according to Times of India; it was agreed by representatives from all private medical colleges that ten percent increase would be reasonable in order to balance demands with affordability concerns.

This is significant because while there is a ten percent increase in fees payable annually at private colleges charging about eleven lakhs and eighty eight thousand rupees compared with nine lakhs nine hundred and forty nine thousand five hundred and fifty two rupees last term; Indian government sponsored institutions are still charging annual tuitions fixed at fifty thousand rupees per student.

This differs from the previous year’s policy which allowed a 10% fee hike only for minority medical colleges and kept fees unchanged in other institutions. Earlier, Medical Dialogues reported that Karnataka government had decided against raising MBBS fees for the academic year 2024–2025 keeping MBBS fee at Rs 50,000 per annum for government medical colleges and Rs 1,28,746 each year for government quota seats in private medical colleges. According to TOI on the other hand, Dr. Sharan who is the Minister of Medical Education agreed to the fee increase after they said that private medical college managements are facing increased maintenance costs, staff salaries and other expenses.

The increase in charge has been made by the state in order to financially assist private medical colleges but the fees has remained constant since 2021-22 academic years for public owned institutions. Besides this increment in tuition fees, there is still an ongoing debate about seat sharing between state and private medical institutions. Private medical institutes have gone back to High Court following a recent court ruling requiring them to allocate NRI seats to the government thereby stalling any further decision making until judgment from court is delivered about it.

Over the past three years, Karnataka operated association of private dental and medical schools have been concerned over financial difficulties due to stagnant medical fees. They argued that despite provisions for annual fee increases, these have not been fully utilized. While the state has increased fees to address these concerns, further discussions and decisions are expected as the government reviews the broader implications for medical education.