Bhopal News: Weak Rupee Deepens Burden On Parents Of Overseas Students

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Parents whose children are studying abroad say the consistent drop in the value of the Indian rupee against the US dollar will increase their financial burden. Even if course fees and living expenses remain unchanged, they will have to pay more in Indian currency.

One US dollar was worth Rs 86.80 on Jan 1, 2025. On Saturday, the exchange rate stood at Rs 94.01, a record. The dollar has turned costlier by almost 8.3% in less than 15 months. Analysts say that with the war in West Asia showing no signs of abating, the rupee may weaken further in the coming days and weeks.

Alina, daughter of entrepreneur Rakshan Zahid Khan, is pursuing an LLM from a university in the UK and is in her last semester. Rakshan said her daughter’s annual fee is Rs 30 lakh. Including lodging, boarding, transport and other expenses, the total expenditure is about Rs 50 lakh a year. “The UK is already expensive and with the dollar appreciating against the rupee, it will become even costlier,” she said.

Sonal Raghuvanshi, who works in the private sector, said her son is pursuing an engineering course at a college in Australia. The four-year course will cost around Rs 1.25 crore in fees. Besides, living expenses are about Rs 1.5 lakh a month. “Expenses will rise in proportion to the rupee’s depreciation against the dollar,” she said.

According to Aarti Sharma who looks after administration at a leading city college said her son is enrolled in a BTech course in computer science at Michigan University in the US. A second-year student receiving a scholarship, his monthly expenses are still around Rs 4.5 lakh. “It is costly and as the rupee falls, it will become costlier. But this is a sacrifice we as parents have to make to afford quality education for our children,” she said.

Fashion designer Tajwar Khan said her daughter will soon fly to the UK to pursue an undergraduate course in International Affairs at University College London. “She has appeared for the scholarship examination conducted by the university.

Once the results are out, we will know exactly how much fees we need to pay. But as the dollar climbs, the cost will go up,” she said, adding, “Every parent wants their children to study at the best place even if it costs a lot. The argument of unaffordability does not work on children. We are helpless.”