Undergrduate medical and dental courses will get costlier this academic year with the Karnataka government approving a 10 per cent hike in fees.
Sources in the department of medical education confirmed to DH that the fee hike was decided in a meeting held with representatives of private medical colleges on Friday.
With this hike, students getting admissions under government-quota seats in private colleges will have to pay Rs 12,884 more, as the fee will be Rs 1,41,630 a year.
The existing fee for government-quota MBBS seats at private colleges is Rs 1,28,746.
Private colleges give 40 per cent MBBS seats to the government. For dental, private colleges give 35 per cent seats to the government.
Colleges demanded a 15 per cent hike citing difficulty in operational costs. There was no fee hike in 2021-22, they said, while the pay scale for teaching staff has increased.
However, the government turned down their demand and convinced them for a 10 per cent hike.
"Last year, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, we did not push for a feek hike on humanitarian grounds. This year we demanded a 15 per cent raise. But, the government agreed for 10 per cent," a member of a private college management said.
According to the sources, the consensual agreement will be signed on Monday after which Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai or Medical Education Minister K Sudhakar will formally announce the new fee structure.
Fees at government colleges will remain the same as last year at Rs 59,800. The last fee hike at government medical colleges was in 2018-19, when it went up from Rs 16,700 to Rs 59,800.
Existing fees:
- Government-quota MBBS seats at private medical colleges: Rs 1,28,746
- Private-quota MBBS seats at private colleges: Rs 9,81,956
- Government-quota dental seats in private colleges: Rs 83,356
- Private-quota dental seats at private colleges: Rs 6,66,023
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