Karnataka private medical colleges slash MBBS fees by up to 50% as 190 seats stay vacant

By TUF News Desk · Published 8 November 2026 · 4 min read

Fact-checked against 2+ independent sources · Editorial policy

A management quota MBBS seat in a Karnataka private medical college cost up to Rs 45 lakh a year this admission season. With 190 of those seats still empty after seven rounds of counselling, some colleges are offering the same seat for half the price.

Two colleges that had fixed their fee at Rs 36 lakh a year, or Rs 1.26 crore for the full 4.5-year course, are now offering the entire course for Rs 65 lakh, the Deccan Herald reported on Sunday. Other colleges are offering rebates of up to 50% on the remaining years. The colleges are making these offers directly to students. The Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA), which runs the state’s counselling, has no provision to change the fees it publishes, so the discounts do not appear on its website.

H Prasanna, executive director of the KEA, told the Deccan Herald: “There is no provision here for any fee alteration. We have heard that colleges are directly dealing with aspirants.” Some colleges have asked the KEA to publish the revised fees. The authority has said it cannot.

The scale of the problem

Karnataka has the largest MBBS capacity in the country: 15,745 seats across 76 colleges, after adding 1,650 seats this year. But 11,145 of those seats, about 71% of the total, are in private colleges. The state ran seven rounds of counselling this year, and a special stray vacancy round is now under way. Its results are due on November 11. After the second stray vacancy round, 273 seats were still vacant.

A national pattern

The problem runs beyond Karnataka. After the third round of all-India counselling, 3,426 MBBS seats were vacant across the country, more than five times the 802 vacant at the same stage last year. The Medical Counselling Committee announced a nationwide special stray vacancy round on October 30. Its final MBBS result came out on November 7, with 811 allotments, and allotted candidates must report to their colleges by November 16.

Why the seats are empty

The fee gap explains most of it. A government college seat in Karnataka costs Rs 64,350 a year. A private college seat under the government quota costs Rs 1,53,571. The management quota, where the vacancies sit, runs from Rs 36 lakh to Rs 45 lakh a year. At the top end, colleges such as MS Ramaiah Medical College charge Rs 45 lakh a year. Dr Bhagavan BC, vice-chancellor of Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences, said: “High management-quota fees are putting seats beyond the reach of many candidates.”

Demand is not the problem. Nearly 23 lakh students competed this year for about 1.4 lakh MBBS seats in 839 medical colleges across India. The fees are what keep many of them out.

What happens next

Karnataka’s Directorate of Medical Education has written to the National Medical Commission, asking it to lower the NEET UG qualifying percentile, currently the 50th percentile, to widen the pool of eligible candidates. Students who entered options in the special stray vacancy round should watch the official KEA website for the result on November 11, and keep their documents ready. Our admission documents checklist covers the papers counselling portals usually ask for at reporting.

Frequently asked questions

How many MBBS seats are vacant in Karnataka after NEET UG 2026 counselling?

190 management quota seats in private medical colleges are vacant, after seven rounds of counselling and two stray vacancy rounds.

How much are Karnataka private colleges cutting MBBS fees?

Up to 50%. Two colleges cut the full 4.5-year course from Rs 1.26 crore to Rs 65 lakh. Management quota fees otherwise run from Rs 36 lakh to Rs 45 lakh a year.

When will the Karnataka special stray vacancy round result be announced?

On November 11, 2026. Students who entered options in the round should check the official KEA website for the result.

Why are MBBS seats vacant when so many students want them?

The fees. Nearly 23 lakh students competed this year for about 1.4 lakh MBBS seats across India, but management quota fees of Rs 36 lakh to Rs 45 lakh a year put those seats out of reach for many families.

Frequently asked questions

Sources: Deccan Herald, The Times of India, Education Times