MBBS fee cuts of up to 40% as 837 seats stay vacant after NEET counselling

Private medical colleges and deemed universities in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Rajasthan are offering cuts of up to 40% in MBBS tuition fees after hundreds of seats went unfilled in this year's all-India counselling, according to reports published in the last week of October 2026. After the Medical Counselling Committee's (MCC) stray vacancy round, the final round of NEET UG 2026 all-India counselling, 837 MBBS seats remained vacant, and 824 of them were at deemed universities in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. Some colleges are reported to be giving students written agreements on reduced fees.

For years, an MBBS seat in India has been one of the hardest things to win: far more students take NEET UG each year than there are seats, and a government college seat is the first choice for most because the fees are low. Private and deemed university seats fill the rest, but their fees are many times higher. A deemed university is an institution given university status by the central government, and it sets its own fees, which state fee committees do not cap in the same way as for private colleges under state quotas.

This year's figures show the strain in that model. The number of seats left vacant after round three was more than four times last year's figure at the same stage, and almost all of the 837 seats still empty at the end are in the most expensive category. Counsellors have linked this to the fast expansion of medical colleges and to fees that many families cannot pay. In other words, there are now seats that students qualify for but cannot afford.

The fee cuts are a sign that colleges are under pressure to fill these places. For students, a discount of up to 40% can bring a seat within reach, but even a reduced fee at these levels still adds up to tens of lakhs of rupees in tuition over the course, often paid through loans. Students should look closely at the full cost: tuition for every year, hostel and mess charges, caution deposits and any bond conditions.

What should a reader do next? If you are still seeking an MBBS seat this year, get any fee concession in writing on the college's letterhead, check that it applies to every year of the course and not only the first, confirm the college's recognition with the National Medical Commission, and do not pay large sums before the admission is formally recorded. Students preparing for NEET UG 2027 can use this year's vacancy pattern to plan which colleges and quotas to aim for.

Short-term: Students with NEET scores who did not get a seat may find cheaper offers at private and deemed colleges in the final days of admission, while colleges try to avoid empty seats for the full course.

Long-term: If vacancies at high-fee colleges keep rising, regulators and state governments may face pressure to look again at how deemed university fees are set, and colleges may have to rethink pricing.

Who is affected: NEET UG 2026 and 2027 aspirants and their families, private medical colleges and deemed universities, especially in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, and education lenders.

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