High cost medical college vs. low fee medical colleges in India and Abroad

Many smart and academically bright students who wish to pursue medical studies are hindered by diverse barriers in the form of capitation fees, hostel fees, quotas and stringent entrance exams. In India, the medicine education is provided by many government medical colleges, universities, private colleges etc. Inadequate quality of medicine education coupled with high education costs has kept the middle income group meritorious students away from pursuing medical studies in India. Students who cannot afford the excessive cost of private medical education in India are unable to make it to the limited seats in government medical colleges too.

Every year, we receive lots of questions regarding high fee medical colleges and low cost medical colleges in India. Here, we are trying to post a comprehensive article on cost of medicine education in India. This article explains the cost aspect of medicine education and low budget medical admission in India.

The data taken from various sites and colleges show that total cost of getting MBBS degree or medical education is a combination of Fees + Hostel + Food + Travel + Books and Pocket money etc. Usually hostel fees, food, travel charge, books will cost about 8 lakhs to 10 lakhs.

Now, come to the point of MBBS Course:

1. In India, Government Medical Colleges / Universities have low charges in terms of low budget of Medical Education. All Indians can apply for admission to government medicine colleges owned by the Center or funded by the Center like BHU, AMU, Jipmer, AIIMS, AFMC, CMC etc. Apart from this, all states have 15% seats in the state owned colleges reserved for the CBSE Pre Medical Test clearing students – which is about 3085 seats. So if you are meritorious student and have capacity to clear such entrance go for and get admission at lowest budget. In such colleges fees are ranging from nil to maximum 70,000 per year.

2. State Govt. Medical Colleges:

These are low cost colleges. But you have to be a domicile of that particular state and should given state PMT exam for admission to these colleges.

All Government Colleges in India charge fees ranging between Rs. 10,000 p.a. to Rs. 70,000 per annum, so the cost of education is really low – as this is subsidized by the Government or rather by our Tax money.

Also, in above medical colleges, there are about 25085 seats and are 3 to 400,000 applications. But there are reservation quotas in this category. So you have to study very hard to get one of these seats.

3. Private Medical Colleges / Universities / Deemed Universities – Seats on Merit:

Private Colleges are offering their merit seats via various examinations such as BVP CET MBBS, Comed Karnataka, Manipal Exam, AFMC PMT, Sikkim Manipal Exam, KIMS UG Medical, DY Patil exam, Sumandeep Vidyapeeth, AFMS PG Medical etc.

Each state may have one or more Associations of Private medical colleges who will conduct an exam and admit students on the basis of their merit in the exam. Deemed Universities and Private Universities will conduct their own examination. So there is a multiplicity of exams for admission to private colleges in India.

Fees range from Rs. 10 to 13 lacs a year or Rs. 50 to 70 lacs over the duration of the course. This is the figure of current year 2016. The cost of medical education is rising every year. Even after increasing 20 new medical colleges the students are not getting admission at lower cost in good medical colleges.

Add extra Rs 8 lacs to lacs for books / hostel / food etc. So your cost of medical education will be Rs. 80 to 90 lacs over 5 ½ years if you get into a Private College on MERIT.

4. NRI Seats / Management quota Seats:

The management quota costs are about double the merit seats. In addition to the fees, the college wants an additional upfront payment of Rs. 38 to 45 lacs depending on the College’s location and reputation. But, you may get low budget management quota seats in newly established medicine college but the risk is that such colleges may shut down if management is poor. So this point you need to keep in mind.

On the other hand, The NRI quota is also ranging from 45000 USD to 80000 USD depending on type and location of college. The good colleges in country are waiting for NRI seats. There are many NRI students coming to India for MBBS admission as internationally medical education in India is low budget with good quality. So only the rich can earn medical degree.

5. Medical education in Abroad:

However, medical education in private colleges of home-country is very expensive. Therefore, MBBS in China, Russia, Ukraine, Philippines and Nepal is undoubtedly a good choice for those who want to be a doctor in future. There are no capitation fees or donations to be paid to these universities. It is expected that over 9,000 students leave India each year for medical education abroad, with China the most popular destination followed by Russia and Ukraine. The difference in the cost of a medical education in private colleges of India and in these countries is huge. China is amongst the cheapest destinations for a medical degree and has a large number of seats. Here, your entire medical education could be completed in Rs 15-25 lacs. So choosing medical education in abroad will be an absolutely right choice and it is undoubtedly worthy.