CHENNAI: Cost for an MBBS at a private college in Tamil Nadu has doubled, and will now cost close to Rs 2 crore.Private medical colleges and deemed universities in Tamil Nadu have increased fees for MBBS after the CBSE released the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) results on August 17. The average cost of studying at a premier college is now Rs 1.85 crore-up to Rs 1 crore as tuition fee and Rs 85 lakh as capitation fee. All private medical colleges and deemed universities are now mandated to admit students solely on the basis of merit. According to the new rules, students can independently apply to different colleges, but admission will be based on NEET ranks.Yet, some colleges have discreetly told parents they will have to pay a capitation fee ranging between Rs 40 lakh and Rs 85 lakh. "I argued it should be based on merit, but the college administration says it wasn't specified in the SC order," said a parent, seeking admission for his daughter at three private universities.While some parents don't argue with the college in the absence of a transparent merit list of admissions, many said they could not afford the annual tuition fee for the five-and-a-half year course. For instance, at Chennai-based SRM Medical College, tuition fee which was Rs 9 lakh in 2014 and Rs 10 lakh in 2015, is Rs 21 lakh this year, including Rs 2 lakh as development fee and Rs 1 lakh as curriculum fee. Tuition fee in other colleges ranges between Rs 12 lakh and Rs 18 lakh. "I have to pay at least Rs 1 crore as tuition fee. The total cost may go up by another Rs 25 lakh," said Selva Ganapathy, whose son secured more than 90 percentile in NEET. but missed a government medical college by 0.25 cut-off points. "The tuition fee there would have been Rs 11,500 a year but he didn't make it because of 69% caste-based reservation in Tamil Nadu," he said.State health department officials said private colleges had autonomy in fixing fees.