CLAT Fees 2027: Application Fee and Government College (NLU) Costs Explained

When students and parents search for CLAT fees, they usually have several questions bundled into one: how much the exam form costs, what a government National Law University charges after admission, whether there is a counselling fee in between, and what the whole journey adds up to. This guide answers all of them on a single page. It covers the CLAT exam fees category by category, the CLAT fees structure across every stage, the CLAT colleges fees at each NLU, and a realistic five-year budget so you can plan with confidence rather than guesswork.

The CLAT 2027 registration window opened on 3 August 2026 and closes on 31 October 2026, with the exam scheduled for 6 December 2026. The application fee has stayed unchanged from the CLAT exam fees 2026 cycle, which makes budgeting simpler. If you are planning your preparation alongside your budget, our CLAT and AILET coaching programs and upcoming batches are built around exactly this timeline

CLAT fees 2027 at a glance

The table below shows the official CLAT 2027 application fee by category, along with the optional add-on and the charges to expect at payment. These amounts are set by the Consortium of National Law Universities and apply to both CLAT UG and CLAT PG.

Payment mode: online only, through credit card, debit card, net banking or UPI. The CLAT exam fees are non-refundable and non-adjustable once paid. These amounts have held steady for several cycles, so the CLAT 2025 registration fees and the CLAT exam fees 2026 were the same Rs 4,000 and Rs 3,500 you see for 2027.

What CLAT is and what the exam fee pays for

The CLAT full form is the Common Law Admission Test, a national level entrance exam conducted by the Consortium of National Law Universities for admission to five-year integrated programmes such as BA LLB (Hons) and to one-year LLM courses. When you pay the CLAT exam form fee, you are paying for your registration and your right to sit the test at your chosen centre, plus the administrative cost of running a national examination. People often search for CLAT full form fees expecting a separate charge, but there is only one application fee, and it is the amount shown above.

The fee does not cover coaching, study material or college tuition. It is purely the cost of the exam itself. That distinction matters, because the application fee is small compared with the later investment in a law degree, which is why planning for the whole picture from the start is the smarter approach.

CLAT application fee 2027: category-wise breakdown

The CLAT application fee is set by category, and the gap between the standard and concessional rates has stayed consistent for several years. Here is what each group of candidates pays and why.

Standard fee: Rs 4,000

Candidates in the General, OBC, EWS, PwD, NRI, PIO and OCI categories pay Rs 4,000. This is the CLAT application fees figure most applicants will pay while submitting the online form, and it is the same whether you are applying for the undergraduate or the postgraduate programme.

Concessional fee: Rs 3,500

Candidates from SC, ST and BPL categories pay Rs 3,500. The concession is built in to widen access to legal education for students from reserved and economically weaker backgrounds.

Add-ons and extra charges

• Previous years' question papers: an optional Rs 500 if you choose to buy them during registration. You do not need them to start practising, since free previous year papers are widely available.

• Bank and payment gateway charges: added on top of the CLAT exam form fees and borne by the candidate. They are usually minor.

• Multiple exams: if you also sit AILET for NLU Delhi or other law entrances, each carries its own separate fee.

CLAT PG fees 2027

The CLAT PG fee, for admission to LLM programmes, follows the same category structure as the undergraduate exam. General and equivalent categories pay Rs 4,000, and SC, ST and BPL candidates pay Rs 3,500. The payment process, deadlines and refund rules are identical to CLAT UG. One difference appears later: at the counselling stage, the CLAT PG confirmation fee is usually adjusted against the NLU admission fee once you secure a seat.

The full CLAT fees structure: four cost layers

To budget properly, it helps to see the CLAT fees structure as four layers rather than a single number. Most guides mention only three and quietly skip the counselling fee, which is where students get surprised. The exam fee is the smallest layer. The largest is the five-year degree.

CLAT counselling fee 2027: the cost between exam and college

After results, qualified candidates who want a seat must register for counselling and pay a separate counselling registration fee. For recent cycles this has been Rs 30,000 for general category candidates and Rs 20,000 for reserved categories (SC, ST, OBC, EWS, PwD and BPL). It is paid online through the Consortium portal while filling your NLU preferences, and it temporarily blocks your seat during the allotment rounds.

This fee is refundable, but the rules matter. You get a full refund of the counselling registration fee if you are not allotted any seat even after the final round, or if you exit without choosing Freeze or Float. Deductions apply in specific cases: a withdrawal after the fourth allotment list typically attracts a penalty of about Rs 5,000, and a similar amount is deducted if you are found ineligible on document verification. For CLAT PG, the confirmation fee is generally adjusted against the NLU admission fee once you take the seat.

The counselling fee has drawn scrutiny. In 2025, a CLAT PG candidate moved the Delhi High Court calling the counselling charges excessive, and the court sought responses from the Consortium and the Bar Council of India, with a related plea before the Kerala High Court. The practical takeaway for you is simple: budget for this refundable amount up front, provide the correct bank details during registration, and keep your payment receipts, because refunds can take time to process.

CLAT government college fees: NLU fee structure 2027

This is the cost that matters most, because it is where the real money goes. A strong CLAT rank gets you into a government National Law University, and the NLU fees structure varies widely from one university to another. The table below lists the approximate annual BA LLB fee at each NLU, covering tuition and the main recurring components. CLAT is the single gateway to 24 of the 26 NLUs, so this is effectively the list of government law colleges your CLAT score can unlock, and the reason CLAT colleges fees is such a common search.

These are approximate annual figures compiled from published university fee notifications, and they vary between the general and reserved categories. They reflect the recurring yearly fee. Your first-year outgo is usually higher wherever a one-time admission fee and refundable deposit apply, as the NLSIU example below shows. Each NLU sets and revises its own fee, so always confirm the exact amount on the university's official website during counselling, when you pay the prescribed installment of the allotted NLU.

Flagship NLU detail: NLSIU Bengaluru

As an example of what sits inside a single NLU fee, NLSIU Bengaluru, the top-ranked law school, charges a fully residential fee that bundles tuition, housing and mess. For 2026-27 the first-year BA LLB fee is about Rs 5,00,000 for general category students and Rs 4,95,000 for SC and ST, including a one-time admission fee and a refundable security deposit. From the second year the amount drops to roughly Rs 4.5 lakh once those one-time charges fall away, taking the five-year total to about Rs 24 lakh to Rs 25 lakh. This is why NLSIU sits at the top of the CLAT colleges fees list, even though its all-inclusive residential model can be better value than a non-residential NLU once you add outside accommodation.

Cheapest and costliest NLUs for CLAT admission

• Most affordable government NLUs: NLUT Agartala, RMLNLU Lucknow, NUALS Kochi and HNLU Raipur sit around Rs 2 lakh to Rs 2.2 lakh per year, among the lowest in the country.

• Highest fee NLUs: NLSIU Bengaluru and RPNLU Prayagraj are near the top at about Rs 4.5 lakh per year, reflecting their fully residential model.

• Best value pick: NALSAR Hyderabad, ranked among the top three law schools, charges roughly Rs 2.72 lakh per year, well below the highest fee NLUs, which makes it a strong value option for high rankers.

Beyond tuition: hostel, mess and one-time costs

The per-year figures above cover the core academic and recurring fees, but a realistic budget should also include a few extras that recur or are paid once at admission.

• Hostel and mess: bundled in at fully residential NLUs like NLSIU, and charged separately at others, typically Rs 50,000 to Rs 1.5 lakh per year.

• One-time charges: admission fee and refundable caution deposit, paid only in the first year.

• Personal costs: books and electives, a laptop, moot court travel and internship expenses from the third year.

Taken together, the all-inclusive cost of a five-year BA LLB at a government NLU works out to roughly Rs 10 lakh to Rs 15 lakh at mid-tier universities and Rs 20 lakh to Rs 25 lakh at the top residential ones. That is still far below the Rs 7 lakh to Rs 10 lakh per year charged by leading private law schools, which is exactly why a strong CLAT rank is so valuable.

Three realistic total-cost scenarios

To make the numbers concrete, here are three example budgets for the full CLAT journey, from the exam fee to graduation. They assume the general category and modest annual fee increases.

In every scenario the exam fee is a rounding error against the degree. That is the real lesson of any CLAT fees structure: spend a little wisely on preparation, clear the exam with a strong rank, and let a lower-fee or better-value NLU do the heavy lifting on cost.

How to pay the CLAT application fee, step by step

1. Register: create an account on the Consortium of National Law Universities website with your name, mobile number and email.

2. Fill the form: enter your personal, academic and category details and choose CLAT UG or CLAT PG.

3. Upload documents: add your photograph, signature and category certificate where applicable.

4. Select the fee: the portal shows Rs 4,000 or Rs 3,500 based on your category, plus the optional Rs 500 for previous year papers if you want them.

5. Pay online: use credit card, debit card, net banking or UPI. Bank charges are shown before you confirm.

6. Save the receipt: download and keep the payment confirmation and application form. For a full walkthrough of the wider process, see our admissions guide.

Is the CLAT fee refundable? Correction and refund rules

The most important rule is that the CLAT application fee is non-refundable and non-adjustable. It cannot be returned or carried forward to another year under normal circumstances, so review your category and details carefully before paying. Refunds are considered only in rare cases such as a genuine double payment or a technical failure where money was deducted but the application did not go through. If a payment does not reflect within 24 hours, raise a ticket on the portal rather than paying again.

If you fill more than one application form, only the last submitted form is considered, and fees paid on earlier forms are not refunded. The counselling fee, by contrast, is refundable under the conditions described earlier, though processing can take several weeks.

Fee concessions, waivers and scholarships

The application fee already carries a built-in concession for SC, ST and BPL candidates at Rs 3,500. Beyond the exam fee, most NLUs offer meaningful support at the college stage, and good coaching institutes reduce your preparation cost too.

• Category concessions: many NLUs charge lower tuition for SC, ST, OBC and EWS students.

• Need-based waivers: several NLUs and the Consortium run schemes for students from economically weaker families, so check each university's support page.

• First-generation and state quota benefits: some NLUs, such as TNNLU, offer sharply lower fees for state category and first-generation graduate students.

• Coaching scholarships: you can lower your preparation spend through our scholarship test, which rewards serious aspirants with fee concessions on our programmes.

How to keep your total CLAT cost down

The exam fee is fixed, but the wider cost of the journey can be managed. The single biggest saving comes from clearing CLAT with a strong rank and entering an affordable government NLU rather than a costlier private college. On the preparation side, you can start with free previous year papers before investing in a full programme, and choose the format that fits your budget.

Preparing efficiently the first time also avoids the real hidden cost of a drop year. That is where structured coaching pays for itself many times over. Students who begin early with our 2-year foundation course spread their preparation over more time and tend to convert into higher-ranked, lower-fee NLUs. You can see what that looks like on our results and toppers page, and pick a start date from our upcoming CLAT and AILET batches.

About the author

This guide is prepared by the CLAT faculty team at Law Prep Tutorial Delhi NCR, the Delhi NCR arm of Law Prep Tutorial, a national law entrance institute of 24 plus years operating across 50 plus cities. The academic framework is led by Anand Sharma, Director and Academic Mentor, who holds a B.A. LL.B. from National Law Institute University (NLIU), Bhopal. Fee figures are compiled from the Consortium of National Law Universities and published NLU fee notifications, and are reviewed each admission cycle.