The Indian equivalent of the American dream, it can be argued, follows a three step procedure:
- Take science in class 11th.
- Clear JEE and get into a top-notch engineering college.
- Do a job for a few years, and then go for an MBA from a prestigious institution.
And this dream shows no sign of stopping. Research indicates that science students are, on average, earning much more than their commerce and arts counterparts. But still, people ask the dreaded question “Is engineering worth it in India?”.
The keyword “worth it” is quite an ambiguous phrase. And it implies that engineering degrees have a very high cost. But is it so? I decided to do some digging to find this out. I went and looked at different courses offered under the umbrella of engineering, and paid close attention to fee structures, duration, hidden fees and so on.
Deep down the rabbit hole, I found my answer.
Let’s start.
What is the average cost of an engineering degree in India?
After researching for hours, I found that the average cost of an engineering degree in India is 2 lakh rupees per annum. How did I come to this price point?
I compiled a list of 80 different engineering branches, ranging from Mechanical Engineering to Bioinformatics. For each branch, I found out the average course fees or average tuition fees. If you want to take a look at the average course fees for an individual branch, you can find a table at the bottom of this post.
Now, to get to the average cost of an engineering degree, I took all these numbers and got their average. The number that I came up with was the nice round figure of 2 lakh rupees per annum.
This means that an engineering degree, which usually lasts four years, will cost you 8 lakh rupees. That’s quite a big number, right? But wait, there’s more.
Your fees may be quite higher than 2 lakh per annum
Remember, this is an average. If your particular college is on the upper end of this price range, an engineering degree may even cost you double or triple the original amount.
And even if your college charges 2 lakh rupees per annum as fees, you will most likely be paying more than that. The reason for this is that apart from the tuition fee, there are a host of other fees and charges that are imposed on you in college. Some of them include but are not limited to mess fees, housing fees, library fees, lab fees, and so on.
Other factors that determine the price of an engineering degree
Government vs Private
Government colleges, on average, tend to be much cheaper than their private counterparts. A B.Tech Computer Science degree at Amity University or Sharda University may end up costing double of what it would cost in IIT Kharagpur. Private colleges also have a lot of “hidden” fees that a new student must be aware of.
Government colleges also, in general, provide a better education than private institutions. Thus, try your best to secure your admission in a government college because the positives far outweigh the negatives.
Urban vs Semi-Urban
If your college is in a tier-1 city or a major town (think Delhi, Mumbai, and the likes), your course fees would be much higher than if your college happens to be in smaller towns or semi-urban areas. You cannot expect the fees of an engineering college in Chennai to be equal to that of an engineering college in Bhopal. That’s just not how things work.
One Branch vs Another
If you take a closer look at the table that I have provided above, you would notice that the course fee is not uniform throughout the various different branches of engineering. For example, a B.Tech in Autotronics will cost you way more than a B.Tech in Textile Engineering. So, keep this fluctuation of prices in mind when you are making a decision.
How will this money be paid?
While this might not be the case for a few colleges, but in general, engineering colleges charge their fees per semester or per year. A few colleges may ask for other fees such as mess fees and housing fees in the middle of the semester.
Most colleges also accept online payments. There are a few who still rely on outdated methods such as cheques. Extra “admission fees” at the time of admission may be asked in the form of cash, as a token amount.
How to become an Engineer?
How can one become an engineer, you ask? Well, you’re in luck because we have informative posts covering this exact topic which go in-depth about career paths and salaries of engineers. Here are a few to get you started – Firmware Programmer, Software Engineer, Security Analyst, Quality Control Engineer, Blockchain Developer, Production Engineer, and Data Scientist.
Course fee for different branches of Engineering
| Name of the Course | Average Course Fee |
| B. Tech + M. Tech in Intelligence Systems Engineering | INR 1,00,650/ annum |
| B.Tech in Industrial Automation | INR 150,000/annum |
| B-Tech in food technology and biochemical engineering | INR 3 to 6 Lacs |
| B.Tech in Industrial Engineering and Management | INR 3 Lakh to 5 Lakh |
| B.Tech in Mainframe Technology | 1,50,000 INR |
| B.Tech in Mobile Application and Information Security | INR 1,00,000 per Annum |
| B.Tech in Upstream & Applied Petroleum Engineering | INR 1 Lakh to 12 Lacs |
| B.Tech Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Technology | INR 2,00,000- INR 8,00,000 |
| B.Tech poultry production Technology | INR 300,000 |
| B.Tech Tool Engineering | INR 3,80,000 to INR 18,00,000 |
| B.Tech Urban & Regional Planning | INR 50,000 to 5,00,000 |
| B.Tech in Apparel Production Management | INR 2 LakhAnnually |
| B.E in Construction Engineering and Management | INR 1,75,000/annum |
| B.E in Power System Engineering | INR 3 to 6 Lacs |
| B.E in Printing, Graphics and Packaging | INR 1,00,000 to INR 4,00,000 |
| B.E in Telecommunication Engineering | INR 50,000 per semester |
| B.Tech | INR 1.2to 10.5 LPA |
| B.Tech | 3 Lakh INR to 4 Lakh INR for 4 years |
| B.Tech Food Technology | INR 2 Lakh–INR 5 Lakhs |
| B.Tech Cloud Computing and Virtualisation Technology | INR 3 Lakhs- INR 6 Lakhs |
| B.Tech Optics and Optoelectronics | INR 2-4 LPA |
| B.Tech Petroleum Refining and Petrochemicals Engineering | INR 3-4 LPA |
| B.Tech (Polymer Science and Chemical Technology) | INR 4 Lakhs |
| B.Tech Electrical Engineering (Power and Automation) | INR 105,000/annum |
| B.Tech in Agriculture Information Technology | INR 2,00,000 PA |
| B.Tech in Architectural Engineering | INR 53,797 to INR 6,40,000 |
| B.Tech in Autotronics | INR 6,92,000 /annum |
| B.Tech in Bioinformatics | 1.5 to 3.7 LPA |
| B.Tech in Biomedical Instrumentation | INR 260,000 to 600,000 |
| B.Tech in Chemical & Electrochemical Engineering | INR 30,000 to 60,000 |
| B.Tech in Cyber Security | INR 1,00,000 – INR 2,50,000 LPA |
| B.Tech in Dyestuff and Intermediate Technology | INR 3,50,000 PA |
| B.Tech in Electrical and Computer Engineering | INR 1.25 lakhper annum |
| B.Tech in Electrical Engineering | INR 4,00,000 to INR 10,00,000 |
| B.Tech in Electronics & Instrumentation Engineering | INR 1,00,000 – INR 12,00,000 |
| B.Tech in electronics & telecommunication engineering | INR 12k-14LPA(DependUpon University and Colleges) |
| B.Tech in Electronics and Communication Engineering | INR 400,000 |
| B.Tech in Enterprise Information Systems | INR 150,000/annum |
| B.Tech in fashion Technology | INR 10k-5lacs(DependUpon University and Colleges) |
| B.Tech in Food Technology | INR 40,000 – INR 1.2 Lakhs |
| B.Tech in Industrial Design | 50,000 to 1, 50,000 |
| B.Tech in Industrial Microbiology | INR 1,00,000 – INR 4,50,000 |
| B.Tech in Information Technology | INR 30,000 to INR 8,00,000 |
| B.Tech in Instrumentation Engineering | INR 2,400 to INR 4.23 lac |
| B.Tech in Man-Made Fiber Technology | INR 55,000/annum |
| B.Tech in Metallurgical and Minerals Engineering | INR 1-10 LPA |
| B.Tech in Mineral Engineering | INR 80,000 to 2,50,000 |
| B.Tech in Motorsport Engineering | INR /annum |
| B.Tech in Packaging Technology | INR 50,000 to 1,28,000 |
| B.Tech in Petrochemical Engineering | INR 2,00,000 P.A |
| B.Tech in Petrochemical Engineering | INR 3,00,000 P.A |
| B.Tech in Pharmaceutical Technology | INR 1 – 3 lakhs |
| B.Tech in Plastic Engineering | INR 50,000 to 2,00,000 |
| B.Tech in Power Electronics | INR 2,50,000 – 9,00,000 |
| B.Tech in Robotics Engineering | INR 70,000 – INR 2 lakh per annum |
| B.Tech in Rubber Technology | INR 50,000 per annum |
| B.Tech in Silk Technology | INR 260,000 to 600,000 |
| B.Tech in Solar and Alternative Energy | INR 150,000/annum |
| B.Tech Electronics and Nanotechnology | INR 4-7 Lakhs |
| B.E(Food Engineering) | INR 50K – 1Lakh |
| B.E in Electronics | INR 50,000- INR 2 LPA |
| B.Tech in Biological Sciences and Bio-Engineering | INR 1.5 – 4 lakh |
| B.Tech in Civil Engineering | INR 2,00,000 to INR 6,00,000 |
| B.Tech in instrumentation and Control Engineering | INR 1 lakh– INR 3 lakhs |
| BE Information Science and Engineering | INR 50000 to INR 100000 |
| BTech Agri Informatics | INR 1,10,000 to INR 4,05,000 |
| BTech Energy Engineering | INR 90,000- INR 1, 90,000 per annum |
| BTech in OleoChemicals and Surfactants Technology | INR 260,000 to 600,000 |
| BTech in Sugar and Alcohol Technology | INR 1,00,000 – 8,00,000 |
| BTech in Water Resources Engineering | INR 1.5 – 10 LPA |
| BTech Industrial Biotechnology | INR 2,00,000 to 4,00,000 |
| BTech Molecular and Cellular Engineering | INR 50,000 to 2,00,000 |
| BTech Telecom Informatics | INR 1, 50,000- INR 10, 90,000 per annum |
| BTech Textile Engineering | INR 25,000 – INR 2,00,000 |
| B.Tech Plastic and Polymer Engineering | INR 50,000-2,00,000 |
| Diploma in Marine Engineering | INR 50,000 to 3,00,000 |
| Diploma in Printing Technology | INR 10,000-INR 1,50,000 |
| Environmental and Water Resources Engineering | INR 2,00,000 |
| Program B.E (Automobile) | INR 10,000 to 4,00,000 |