DU LLB Fees 2025: Delhi University’s 5-Year LLB Costs 3000% More Than 3-Year LLB; Comparison

Delhi University offers 3-year LLB programme in its three law centres. The university also started offering 5-year integrated LLB courses — BA LLB and BBA LLB from the academic year 2023-24 onwards. The admission to DU 5-year LLB courses is done based on scores in the Common Law Admission Test. On the other hand, DU 3-year LLB admissions are conducted through the national level Common Universities Entrance Test (CUET)-LLB. While there is a difference of 2 years between 3-year LLB and 5-year LLB courses along with some curriculum changes, the degrees are considered equivalent for all purposes. However, the DU 5-year integrated LLB costs almost 30 times of the 3-year LLB fee annually.

The overall cost of a 5-year LLB at Delhi University goes up to Rs.2 Lakh p.a., whereas, the total fee for a 3-year LLB is just around Rs. 7130 p.a. This puts the total DU 5-year LLB fee at 2700% more than the 3-year LLB fee.

Being a public-funded central university, Delhi University is known for offering different courses at low cost. However, a higher cost for 5-year LLB puts it almost at par with several national law universities (state universities) and private universities in terms of the fee charged. 5-year LLB is not the only course where DU increased the cost exponentially. The B.tech programme, which was introduced along with a 5-year LLB, is also offered at over 2 Lakh per year.

How is DU 5-year LLB different from 3-year LLB?

Unlike the 3-year LLB, which is a second-degree programme, the 5-year LLB at Delhi University opens the door for students looking to study law after Class 12. The DU 5-year LLB is a dual degree programme with combinations of BA—LLB and BBA—LLB. The programme structure of these two courses broadly covers the BA/BBA curriculum, communication/skills and Law courses. The 3-year LLB curriculum focuses on the law-specific subjects along with the moot courts and internships.

Why higher fees for DU 5-year LLB?

The 5-year LLB course by Delhi University is being offered with a consideration to graded autonomy, inspired by National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. In March 2024, the University Grant Commission (UGC) also granted autonomous status to Delhi University along with seven other universities. This is again in line with the NEP 2020 guidelines which seek to ensure academic and administrative autonomy in higher educational institutions.

Having academic and administrative autonomy means the university can determine its curriculum, admission process and fees. While autonomy with respect to the curriculum and admission process is expected to keep the courses relevant for industry requirements, autonomy in matters of fees means the university may not get public funds to run these courses.

For Delhi University, autonomy in fees shows a remarkable shift from a public-funding model to a self-sustaining model. It also opens the gates for the commercialisation of higher education in public-funded universities. DU will raise the funds to run new courses like integrated LLB and Btech on its own, effectively attaching the cost to the market forces and passing the financial burden on students through higher fees.