Many pvt colleges opt for no fee hike, relief for aspirants

Mumbai: Hundreds of private, unaided colleges offering professional courses in the state have decided not to implement a fee hike for the upcoming academic session 2025-26, bringing relief to lakhs of aspirants.
Among the colleges charging fees over Rs 10 lakh are two offering the sought-after MBBS programmes and five offering MD/MS courses. Among the engineering colleges, Bhavan's Sardar Patel Institute of Technology and Thakur College are also not seeking any upward revision in their fee review proposals to the state's Fee Regulating Authority (FRA). So far, 115 colleges offering pharmacy have sought no fee hike, along with 100 MBA colleges, 75 engineering ones, and 16 ayurveda colleges, among others.

Amravati's Dr Punjabrao Deshmukh Memorial Medical College, which charged Rs 10.8 lakh last year for MBBS and Rs 12.3 lakh for MD/MS, will continue with the same amount this year. Talegaon's MIMER Medical College's MBBS fees will also remain constant at Rs 11.3 lakh. For postgraduate MD/MS courses, Mumbai's Bombay Hospital Institute of Medical Sciences (Rs 10 lakh), ACPM Medical College, Dhule (Rs 10.74 lakh), Sanjeevan Medical College, Miraj (Rs 9.6 lakh), and Warudi's JIIU's Indian Institute of Medical Science and Research (Rs 9 lakh) will maintain the same fees as last year. No fee hike is always good news for students, but many private medical colleges are overcharging students in the name of security deposits, hostel fees, and club charges, said parent representative Sudha Shenoy.
One of the PG medical colleges saw the fee double last year, and many of these private colleges do not even pay stipends at par with govt colleges, said Shenoy.
The FRA, last year, decided to cap the caution money at Rs 50,000 for all medical courses and fixed upper limits for other courses too. FRA chairperson and former Bombay HC judge Vijay Lakhichand Achliya said that many of these colleges may be satisfied with the fees they charged in the previous year. Another official mentioned that some colleges in rural areas may not be hiking their fees as they may not attract students for higher fees. A principal from an engineering college said that some colleges assess their expenditure and, realising that the fees may drop during the review process, do not seek any upward revision.