Demand makes MBBS cost soar in TN, engineering seats go abbegging

CHENNAI: Pursuing a medical degree can leave one’s finances in a critical condition with private medical universities and colleges in Tamil Nadu raising their tuition as well as capitation fee for MBBS admissions this year in the face of higher demand and tougher competition for seats. A student starting MBBS this year under the management quota could end up paying about Rs 1.4 crore in fees alone for the entire course – up to 85 lakh as capitation and Rs 55 lakh as tuition fee.This is apart from other expenses like laboratory, library, mess and hostel charges.
A couple of deemed universities and private medical colleges in the state have announced that their annual tuition fee will be Rs 10 lakh. The minimum is Rs 7 lakh, demanded by some colleges in rural Tamil Nadu. It was in the range of Rs 4 lakh-Rs 9 lakh last year. The tuition fee in a government medical college is only Rs 11,500 a year.
READ ALSO: Students of last year may get easy entry in MBBS colleges
Sources say the capitatition fee, which is collected illegally and for which no receipt is given, has gone up from Rs 50 lakh last year to Rs 60 lakh-Rs 85 lakh, depending on the college. “The demand for seats under the management quota has increased this year due to a reduction in number of seats following the disqualification of three private medical colleges,” an employee of a private medical college in Chennai told TOI. A senior official in the state health department said they haven't been able to stop the managements from collecting capitation fee as colleges are going through middlemen.

With the cut-off for medical admission coming down slightly due to fewer centum scores in relevant subjects in Class 12 examinations this year, it is also an opportunity for last year’s students, who missed out on MBBS seats, to seek admission again. “Around 1,500 students who did not get MBBS admissions last year are trying their luck this year under the government quota in government and private colleges. This is another reason why the demand for management quota seats is going up,” said G R Ravindranth, president of Doctors for Social Equality’s Tamil Nadu unit.
A Chennai-based doctor, who has been trying to get a management quota seat for his daughter, said the colleges have increased the capitation fee after the Class 12 results were declared. “I did not reserve a seat in advance for my daughter because we thought she would score enough to get a seat without paying capitation fee. But her scores did not clear the cut-off and I have been approaching many colleges for a paid seat. But a prominent university in Chennai said it had only a couple of seats and therefore the capitation will be Rs 85 lakh,” the doctor said. He said a few seats were given for Rs 60 lakh in the beginning.
In an attempt to make it easier for MBBS aspirants, a private medical college in Chennai has introduced a scheme through which a student can pay Rs 24 lakh per year as fee. There is no need to pay a huge sum as capitation while joining the course, the management said.
Though, a committee is appointed by the state government every year to review the tuition fee charged by private colleges affiliated to the state medical university, there is no proper mechanism to monitor them. The committee can only review the tuition fee and not other charges. Moreover, deemed universities are out of this committee’s purview.
Ravindranath said two entrance exams should be conducted for medical admissions. Apart from an entrance test for admissions in government colleges and for government quota seats in private colleges, a separate examination should be conducted by the central government for admissions in deemed universities and for management quota seats in private colleges. “There should be a mechanism to regulate collection of fee in private colleges and deemed universities,” Ravindranath said.
With medical education in India becoming costlier, many students are joining medical colleges in countries like China, Russia and Ukraine. “Following the steep hike in capitation and tuition fee, many students are now heading to China where they can finish the course with about Rs 30 lakh,” K Rajesh, an overseas education consultant in Puduchery, said. Unlike Russia and a few other countries, a student can finish the course in China in five years. A medical student has to study for six years in Russia and a few other countries.