HYDERABAD: The Karnataka government has allowed a 10% increase in fees for undergraduate medical course at private colleges for the 2024-25 academic year.
According to reports, an announcement in this regard was made after the decision was taken during a meeting between the government and the managements of private medical colleges on August 17, 2024. The rising operational costs faced by these institutions was cited as the reason for the hike in the fees.
As per the new agreement, the fees for government quota seats in private medical colleges will increase to Rs.1,40,621, while the students need to pay Rs. 11,88,161 for a private seat.
In the previous years, when the government quota seats were available at Rs.1,28,746, the private seats costed Rs. 9,94,906.
The private colleges had sought a hike in the course fees by 15% to 20%. However, the Karnataka government agreed for a 10% increase to address the needs of the private colleges and affordability factor as well.
However, no changes have been made for the course fees offered by government medical colleges, which remains at Rs. 50,000 per year. The course fees of government medical colleges have been remained unchanged since the 2021-22 academic year.
During the 2023-24 academic year, the Karnataka government increased the fees by 10% only for the minority medical colleges and refused to consider the fee hike demanded by others.
However, no decision was taken on seat sharing as the private medical colleges have filed an appeal in the Karnataka High Court, contesting the recent judgment of asking them to surrender NRI seats blocked in 2018, reports said.
The Karnataka government has recently allowed a 10% hike in the fees for engineering and architecture programmes.