The rupee hit a fresh all-time low on Wednesday as it ended the day at 77.58 per dollar. A day before, the local currency ended at 77.56 per dollar, which was the all-time low that day.
With a rupee touching its new all time lows every other day, Indian students who are set to go abroad this year will have to cough up more money to buy more dollars, pounds or euro — as the case may be.
Exorbitant fees
Average fee for one year at any Ivy League institution in the US is around $50,000-60,000 a year. Add to this the cost of living which can be anywhere between $10,000-18,000 per year.
Similarly, in other sought-after destinations such as England or Scotland, the fee can be anywhere between £27,000-40,000 at a Russell Group institution. One can further add the annual living expenses which can be anywhere between £12,000-15,000.
One must be aware of the fact that the total amount i.e., fee along with living expenses, is meant to be kept in the bank for a limited period (one to six months depending on the country) to be able to apply for a visa.
Impact of foreign exchange on plans to go abroad
This essentially means for a US visa; a student might have to show around $80,000 in the bank. And when the rupee is sliding fast, one rupee fall per dollar can cost them an extra ₹80,000 and when the slide persists, the money requirement also rises.
For a small increase of say ₹1.25 would add an extra burden of ₹one lakh.
According to ICRA analytics, rupee has fallen by ₹4.53 in past one year from ₹73.04 on May 18, 2021 to ₹77.57 on May 18, 2022.
This means an Indian student who decides to go to the US in 2022 will have to pay an extra ₹3.62 lakh (based on exchange rate on May 18) in comparison to their peers who went to the US last year i.e., 2021.
Similarly, if a pound becomes only Re 1 more expensive, the yearly burden of Indian students increase by ₹39K to ₹55K.
Pound closed at ₹96.63 on May 18, ₹1.29 higher than its price a week ago i.e., 95.34. This tiny decline in past one week will make UK-bound Indian students poorer by anywhere between ₹50,310 to ₹70,950.
However, the yearly analogy doesn’t fit in the context of UK because British pound has become weaker in past one year.
“I am happy that the rupee is not falling steeply against British pound. Else, my plans of studying abroad this year could have faced a speed bump,” says Manoj Bajia, a student from Delhi who is set to join a university in Sussex, England for her master’s degree in engineering this September.