Medical education quite affordable in Karnataka

Bengaluru TIMES NEWS NETWORK





For a domiciled student in Karnataka, studying in a private medical or dental college may not be such a costly affair compared to Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra or Kerala. A look at the fee structures in medical institutions across these states reveals that Karnataka has some of the most affordable fee structures.

 

The state follows a unique three-stage categorization for medical and dental admissions. While 40% of seats in private medical colleges are reserved for Karnataka students domiciled in the state for seven years or more under the state government quota, another 40% of seats are reserved for students from across India under what is known as all-India or non-Karnataka quota. The remaining 20% seats are for NRI students and institutional preferences.

The Karnataka government also favours domiciled students and charges them `77,000 as annual fee for MBBS and `49,000 for Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS). In comparison, a government quota seat for students of and outside Maharashtra in Mumbai's KJ Somaiya Medical College costs a whopping `9.25 lakh per annum. The fee is decided by the Shikshan Shulka Samiti, based on expenses incurred by colleges which submit their yearly ac counts to the panel. In Tamil Nadu gov ernment quota seats can go up to`4 lakh for MBBS and`2.5 lakh for BDS. In Kera la, on the other hand, an all-India merit seat costs `5.5 lakh and for BDS, one pays `2.5 lakh. In Telangana, however, a government quota seat fee is lesser than that in Karnataka. A student can get a seat under the government quota on merit at `60,000. The state also follows a revision of fee every three years and the fee structure is fixed by the Telangana State Admission and Fee Regulatory Committee constituted by the state government.