The MBBS tuition fee of the Sangli-based institute for the current academic year is yet to be finalised, but parents are expecting it to go up. Last year, the FRA had fixed the annual fee at Rs 8.64 lakh

Mumbai: Sangli-based Prakash Institute of Medical Sciences has become the second private medical college in the state to register under Section 8 of the Companies Act, nine years after Palghar’s Vedantaa Institute of Medical Sciences.While the college will continue to remain a private entity and be regulated by state bodies such as the Fee Regulatory Authority (FRA) and the state CET Cell, students will not be eligible for any government scholarship scheme.The MBBS tuition fee for the current academic year is yet to be finalised, but parents are expecting it to go up. Last year, the FRA had fixed the annual fee at Rs 8.64 lakh. A college official said the institution would continue with last year’s fee structure for now and revise it once the FRA finalises the fees. Any excess amount collected will be reimbursed to students, but if the revised fee is higher, they will have to pay the difference.The fees at Vedantaa Institute of Medical Sciences this year is fixed at Rs 17.13 lakh, the highest in the state among private colleges.Besides Prakash Institute, Loknete Rajaram Bapu Ayurvedic Medical College and Hospital, also managed by Prakash Shikshan Foundation, have transferred their ownership from trust-run institutions to companies.In a notification issued on Monday evening, the state CET Cell informed aspirants about the approval granted for the transfer of management of two institutes. The notification stated that students admitted to these institutions would not be eligible for any government scholarship, tuition fee concession or tuition fee reimbursement schemes.A source said it had become difficult to manage private institutions with fees being collected from less than 20% of its students as nearly 80% of the seats are covered under various government scholarship schemes, including those for girls, economically weaker sections and students from different categories. “While the government has extended these benefits to students, fee reimbursements from the government take a long time. There is always a delay in disbursing the amount, making it difficult for the college managements,” he said.Sudha Shenoy, a parent representative, said, “The government is at fault for pushing these colleges into companies or deemed institutions. They either extend part or full subsidies to students, but do not reimburse it on time. How can colleges survive with fees from less than 30% students? The government sometimes takes three to four years to reimburse these fees.”In 2024, colleges had refused to start postgraduate admissions in protest.Prakash College has been at loggerheads with the FRA for the last few years. In 2022, the college’s fee for MBBS was slashed to half based on its expenditure. Last year, the tuition fee for postgraduate courses ran into controversy. While the college demanded an annual fee of Rs 16 lakh for MD/MS courses, the FRA insisted that they charge Rs 10.5 lakh as ad-hoc fee for new courses.