No, Studying in sainik schools are not free. Based on the standards, infrastructure facilities, curricular, co-curricular activities and quality the schools are collecting fees for annum. Different schools are having different fee structure. The highest fee collecting school is kalikiri sainik school. Per annum the fee is 1Lakh 29 thousand. This  is in Andra Pradesh state.  Second highest fee collecting school is Bijapoor sainik school. Per  annum the fee is 1Lakh 24 thousand. This  school is in Karnataka state. 

            Sainik School Lucknow was established in July 1960. The only one of the Sainik Schools to be administered by the state government, the alumni of which, Captain Manoj Pandey, posthumously received Param Veer Chakra. It was the first Sainik School in the country, and was followed by the setting up of other Sainik Schools, under the Ministry of Defence, Government of India, on the same lines. The education in this school is subsidised by the Government of Uttar Pradesh. It is a boys’ residential English medium school affiliated to CBSE Board.

        The school is run by the Uttar Pradesh Sainik Schools Society, which is registered under the Indian Societies Registration Act (1860). It is the only Sainik School which is completely financed and managed by the State Government.

          The least fee collecting school is Bubaneshwar Sainik school per annum the fee is 47 thousand. This is one of the famous top 5 sainik schools in India. This school is in Odisha state.  Different category students are having different fee structure. General students, Defense students, schedule caste and schedule tribe students. A slight difference is there in different category students in the fee structure. Only three to four thousand difference per annum.  A sample fee details given below. 

Note:- Tution fee is subject to increase by 10% every year. Diet money is subject to revision keeping in view of inflation rates of dietary items.

Details of Fees for the Academic Session 2020-21