Bombay Durpun - NEET’s Merit Promise Erodes as Cost and Time Barriers Rise for Medical Aspirants

Cracking the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) in a single attempt and securing a seat in a Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) or Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) program has become an exception rather than the norm. Recent data from medical selection committees indicates a significant shift in the profile of admitted students: the average age of those joining medical colleges has risen from 17–18 years to 20–21 years, while the proportion of first-time entrants has fallen sharply since the 2021–2022 academic year.

This trend has intensified scrutiny over whether the exam continues to fulfill its original purpose. Dr. R Karthikeyan, founder and managing trustee of the Aatrupadai Foundation, which supports government school students through the examination and admission process, stated that NEET has drifted from its merit-based roots. "A test meant to reward merit now favours students who can afford to wait, repeat and pay," he said.

The disparity is most pronounced among students from government schools. Under the 7.5% quota reserved for these students, introduced in October 2020, 50% secured admission on their first attempt in 2021–2022. By the 2025–2026 cycle, that figure had dropped to just 5%. The data reveals a heavy reliance on repeated attempts: while 44% of these students succeeded on their third try and 36% on their second, at least 15% required four or more attempts. Two recorded cases involved students who sat for the exam more than five times.

The decline in first-time success is not limited to this quota. Among the remaining 92.5% of government-quota seats, the share of first-time entrants fell from 25% to 20%. Similarly, in the management category, first-time admissions dropped from 40% to 30%.

P B Prince Gajendra Babu, general secretary of the State Platform for Common School System, explained that the preparation landscape has forced students into extended breaks after Class XII. "During the break years, students join offline coaching. Those who can afford it join another coaching centre online and buy material from yet another. So, they get trained by three institutes," he said.

The financial burden of this intensive preparation is substantial. One year of offline coaching during a gap period costs between 1.2 lakh and 3 lakh rupees. Online coaching ranges from 30,000 to 1 lakh rupees, with additional crash courses costing up to 75,000 rupees. Some students begin training as early as Class VI, paying 30,000 to 1 lakh rupees annually.

This economic pressure has altered school enrollment patterns. To reduce costs and travel time, many parents are shifting their children to Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) schools that offer integrated coaching programs. Consequently, several matriculation schools have either converted to CBSE or opened branches to retain students. Educationalists note that while data on first-attempt success rates for CBSE students is unavailable, parents believe the NCERT curriculum provides a competitive advantage.

The shift toward CBSE is evident in examination statistics. In 2017, 58,472 candidates appeared for Class XII exams from 935 schools across a broad region including Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Goa, Puducherry, and several island territories. By 2025, the number of candidates had risen to 94,077, though the geographic scope had narrowed to Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Conversely, state board participation has declined. In 2025, 7.9 lakh students from 7,513 schools appeared for Class XII exams, with 7.5 lakh passing. This represented an 11.3% decrease in the number of candidates compared to 2017.

School Education Minister A Rajmohan criticized the current system, stating that inequality persists across all admission categories. "In every category, from govt school students to management quota, it’s the richest who benefit," he said. He argued that abolishing NEET is the only viable solution to this structural inequity.

Challenges extend beyond the examination itself into the post-result counselling phase. Student counsellor Manickavel Arumugam noted that a high score does not guarantee a desirable outcome due to the complexity of seat allocation rules, which involve rank, reservation policies, college fees, and admission criteria.

This year, after four rounds of counselling, 836 MBBS seats in deemed universities, primarily in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, remained unallotted. When the deadline for joining seats passed, national vacancies rose to 946. The Medical Counselling Committee subsequently called for a special stray round to fill these positions.

The fees at these institutions are a primary barrier. Annual tuition ranges from 23 lakh to 35 lakh rupees. DMK MP P Wilson urged the Union Ministry to cap fees, accusing institutions of profiteering. He warned that while seats may eventually fill, they will likely go to candidates who can afford the cost rather than those with the highest merit.

Colleges that did fill their seats saw a significant drop in closing ranks. At Sri Ramachandra Institute, the cut-off rank slid from 7.3 lakh to 10.7 lakh. Arumugam highlighted the consequence of this dynamic: "Students with minimum scores got in at the stray round. Most with better marks haven’t opted because they can’t pay this fee. It defeats the spirit of NEET." He added that in other institutions, students who merely scraped through the qualifying cut-off are now securing admissions.

The widening gap between exam performance and final admission outcomes continues to fuel debate over the fairness of the medical entrance process, as families navigate a system where financial capacity increasingly dictates educational access.

C.Jaggi--BD