Foreign-bound students trip as rupee slips

Foreign-bound students trip as rupee slips

It’s admission time in foreign universities and a plummeting rupee has meant expenses shooting up by 3 to 4 lakh for prospective students. Here’s how some of them plan to deal with the situation...

Tarini Peshawaria and Avantika Mehta

    It’s that time of the year when students are gearing up for admissions, visiting counsellors, and planning further studies. However, for those planning to study abroad, this might not be the happiest time. Since the rupee has weakened and has been hovering around 57 for a dollar, there’s likely to be a fall in the number of students going abroad by as much as 15 to 20%, says the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM). Those already there or planning to go will have to arrange for more rupee funds for the same amount of foreign currency.
    Students say the cost will pinch, and while some might have to put their plans in the cold storage for now, others say that with budgeting, installments, part-time jobs, and most importantly, patiently waiting for the currency rates to change, things can get better.
ESCALATING COST Ananya Kapoor, 23, who is going to Oxford University this year, says, “Earlier, the cost for my entire course, including the tuition fee, accommodation and expenses, was about 27 lakh. But now, in the past one week since the rupee has fallen, it has gone up to 29.5 to 30 lakh. I can pay my tuition fee later, but my accommodation fee has to be paid in the first week of July. And if the rupee doesn’t rise by then, I’ll have to pay 8 extra per pound, which is going to cost me an extra 50,000 only on my stay.
HIGHER LOANS BUT NO
JOB GUARANTEE Siddhanth Kocchar, 25, who’s doing a Masters in Law at Queen Mary, University of London, says, “A deeper impact is felt by students who have taken loans. This, to some extent, is related to the ability to find a job. The UK is already in recession, and, even the English students aren’t getting work. A lot of Indian students return home to work, and have to pay back their loan with their earnings, which are in rupees. If the rate is higher at that time, they end up in the red.”
IS DEFERRING WISE? Gaurav Seth, 23, who delayed his admission to Columbia University, says, “My father told
me that by next year, he’d save up to send me. So I dropped a year to work, and now, the cost has increased by 3-4 lakh. For a middle-class family, that means I might not be able to go.”
STUDENTS ALREADY THERE ARE LUCKIER The plummeting of the rupee has not had a huge impact on students who are already in the middle of their studies. Siddhanth Kochchar tells us, “My parents give me a specific amount, which hasn’t changed with the fluctuations.”
    The level of impact varies according to where the schools are situated. Guntas Singh, 21, who’s pursuing a double-major in electrical engineering and economics at Rice University, Texas (US), says, “Tuition fees in most top-tier universities are roughly the same. A lot of your expenditure depends on where your university is located, which city you’re living in.”
BUDGETING’S ESSENTIAL Siddhanth adds, “My main expenditure in London is transport. I cook at home. London can be student-friendly if you know where to go — free concerts, the park, and the like. So, I mould my lifestyle according to the money available to me.”
IF WE WORK, WHEN DO WE STUDY? While part-time jobs are the norm among students in other countries, they aren’t so popular with Indians, whose main aim is to concentrate on their studies. Ananya Kapoor says, “Oxford’s LLM is one of the hardest in the world. A parttime job would mean jeopardising my grades. A lot of students take up jobs, but quit in 15-20 days since they cannot cope with it.” Guntas has similar views. “With two degrees, I couldn’t work more than 20 hours a week. Keeping the grade point average (GPA) high is extremely important to international students, otherwise you won’t get a job abroad.”
But Naina Dhillon begs to differ, “I had always planned to do a part-time job and now, it’s even more important. I plan to meet my daily expenses from the part-time job, and pay the tuition and accommodation fee from the loan.”
SOME RELIEF The tuition fee is raised by American universities by a percentage every year, and combined with the falling rupee, it might pose problems. But it’s also about the timing. Students like Guntas are grateful for the structure of the payment plan in his university, “American universities let you pay per month, or sometimes quarterly, so you can wait for the dollar to go down or up to pay your fee,” says he.
    It’s similar for UK colleges. Siddhanth says, “I’ve paid my tuition fee already, in two installments.”
LEAVING NOT AN OPTION Guntas adds, “I pay $7,000 per year in Rice. Also, our university increases the fee every year, by about 30%. I’ve seen a lot of people leave since they can’t afford it anymore, but mostly, they’re students from Africa. Not as many Indians leave. Everyone who goes from here is from a middle-class family. Their parents have spent their life’s savings to send these kids. They don’t ask the kids to come back, because what will they do without a degree? Another reason Indian students don’t come back is because companies recruit from campus, and most kids want to stay on to work, and earn US dollars to recover the amount their parents spent on their education.”
THE BRIGHTER SIDE Some even expressed a desire to send their earnings home, perhaps invest their dollars in the Indian real estate market. Nikhil Kaul says, “My friends and I are wondering if we should send money home but having just graduated, just about to start working — we have none right now.” He also told us about his future plans, “I’ve been thinking of investing in land in Gurgaon and Noida. To be honest, I’m thinking this is a good time to
    do that. Like, if I get a loan,
    and am able to send that to
    India. So, if you’re making money, and not splurging it all, it’s a great time to consider investing it.”
REVERSE FLOW GOOD FOR INDIANS
Students and individuals who are working abroad, or Indians who are working with people from other countries, are experiencing a boon because of the latest exchange rate. They have expressed a sense of joy that while earning in dollars, they can use the current economic situation to help their families at home.
    In the UK, a student must find a job that pays a minimum of 20,000 pounds in order to obtain a work visa. Last year, if this student saved even a quarter of that amount, that is to say, £5000, and sent it back home to be converted into rupees, the amount his or her family received would have been 4,36,130. At today’s exchange rate, the family would receive 4,52,353.50. Similarly, students who are studying and/or working in the US are also seeing the advantage of saving their dollars to send home, rather than spending them. While last year, $5000 sent home would amount to 2,77,481, at the current exchange rate, they’d be sending home 2, 88,050.