How a crashing rupee's silent victims are struggling abroad

The rupee has hit an all-time low, falling below the 90-mark against the US dollar on Wednesday. A weaker rupee makes everything more expensive, from crude oil to electronics, even as exports become cheaper. But one of the most affected sectors is education abroad, and the hit it is often silent.

On Wednesday, the Indian rupee slipped past the 90 mark to trade at 90.12 in the morning. This slide of the rupee, one of the worst-performing currencies of 2025, hits Indian students abroad, silently. Indians studying in the US, the UK, Italy, Germany and Singapore told India Today Digital how the falling rupee is like a hidden fee hike that's never announced.

The living expenses and the annual tuition fees could rise by lakhs due to a falling rupee. Education loans also swell up considerably. According to the Indian Education Ministry's Bureau of Immigration data, over 7.6 lakh Indian students travelled abroad for higher studies as of 2024. There has been a rise in Indians studying abroad in recent years, barring the Covid year of 2020, when the numbers were around 2.6 lakh. In 2023, over 8.95 lakh Indians went abroad for studies.

Though there is no official data on what percentage of students belong to the middle class, industry reports and surveys indicate that a large segment of these students come from middle-class families, who often need to finance their programmes abroad with scholarships or other financial aid, or through education loans.

The weakening of the rupee against the US dollar not only strains students living on a shoestring budget abroad but also burdens families who must send them money for basic survival.

THE ECONOMICS OF WHY EDUCATION IN THE US, UK, CANADA GETS EXPENSIVE

Education in the US, the UK, Canada, and Australia mainly becomes costlier for Indians as the rupee weakens because in economic terms, education abroad is treated as a service. Though it behaves like a globalised commodity, the purchase of education, in terms of admissions, visas, accommodation, consultancy, or even "experience", is treated as an exportable commercial service.

When the rupee weakens, Indians need to shell out more rupees to buy the same $1 worth of imports. Education abroad, hence, gets more expensive.

In the last eight months, the rupee has slid from around Rs 84 to Rs 90.12 against the dollar, which is nearly a 7% drop.

While Indian students in the US are affected the most, given the rupee weakens against the US dollar (USD), those studying in Canada, Australia, and the UK, where fees and living costs are billed in currencies closely tied to the USD, are also impacted to a great extent.

A weakening rupee usually makes studying in the Eurozone more expensive too. Only in tightly managed currencies like the Singapore dollar does the damage often remain limited.

HOW STUDENTS IN THE US GET AFFECTED BY A FALLING RUPEE

Sanjana M Kumar, a master's student in media studies at New York University, says the rupee drop has affected her daily budget. "My parents send me $1,500 a month, which covers my basics. When we planned last year, when a dollar was at around Rs 83.5, that was Rs 1,25,000. Now $1,500 costs almost Rs 10,000 more," Sanjana told India Today Digital.

"I have stopped going to cafes and have cut down on outings with friends because I had a dentist visit last month. Earlier, I could afford cabs once in a while (which are very expensive in New York), but now I walk a few blocks before I take a taxi. It saves me a few dollars. Luckily, my parents can afford to make me study in one of the most expensive cities in the world, but the little comforts are gone because of something I didn't expect," she says.

New York-based software engineer Abir Bhattacharjee, who did his master's from Arizona State University, explains, "Indian banks typically sanction education loans based on the initial tuition fee. However, for long-duration programmes, such as a four-year undergraduate course or a 5-year integrated undergrad-plus-grad programme, this approach can create challenges. Over several years, currency fluctuations and rupee depreciation significantly increase the effective cost of tuition, making financial planning difficult."

"When tuition fees range from $100,000 to $200,000 for the entire course, even minor changes in the USD-INR exchange rate can add up to tens of thousands of rupees. For example, if the rupee depreciates by Rs 5 per dollar over 4-5 years, a $20,000 semester fee could cost Rs 1 lakh more. This impact is amplified for longer-tenure degrees, as students pay fees multiple times across 8-10 semesters," said Bhattacharjee.

THE HIDDEN FEE HIKE THAT IS NEVER ANNOUNCED

Universities in the US, Canada, the UK, and Australia quote fees in their local currencies, which move closely with the US dollar, because all four countries trade a lot with each other, and raise or cut interest rates almost at the same time as the US.

Mumbai-based overseas education consultant Yash Mehta told India Today Digital, "I have seen many middle-class families whose budgets took a hit because of the rupee-dollar fluctuation. Families generally account for major expenses, but there are way too many costs beyond the basics. They usually calculate for groceries, rent or hostel fees and security deposits, transportation, phone plans, and trips back to India, if any. But there's also health insurance, which is anywhere between $2,500-4,000 a year. Then there are application and visa fees for OPT. There are also bank charges and currency-conversion markups on every transfer. Then there are pre- and post-departure expenses, small things that often add up to a lakh or more," explained Mehta, who has been in the profession for over 20 years.

"There are families that somehow manage to send their kids abroad and fund a US or UK degree because the return on investment is usually high. For a typical two-and-a-half-year master's programme in the US today, parents are easily looking at Rs 1-1.5 crore once you add tuition, or even more if it's STEM from a top-tier college," he said.

When asked how much the living costs get affected because of a weak rupee, Mehta said, "If I had to put a number to it considering the depreciation rate as much as we have seen in the last eight months, the budget could shoot up by over Rs 3 lakh a year," he said.

Mehta said that many families have to seek top-up loans because the dollar cost has jumped 6-8%.

"Education loans for foreign studies are taken in rupees. The loan is disbursed in rupees, converted to foreign exchange and sent abroad. When the rupee falls, there is higher principal in rupees for the same dollar amount. And every EMI paid from India buys fewer dollars when the student starts repaying the student loan," Mehta explained.

STUDYING IN EUROPE GETS EXPENSIVE TOO BECAUSE OF A WEAK RUPEE

Mumbai-based Nikunj Sharma, who completed his bachelor's degree from Bocconi University, Milan, between 2014 and 2019, told India Today Digital, "Back then (2014) one euro was between Rs 70-80. By the time I left, it was touching Rs 90, and today it's Rs 105," he says. "Rent in Milan was EUR 500-800, groceries and other costs another EUR 400-500 a month. The same lifestyle would cost almost double in rupees today, only 10 years later."

Sharma had to stay an extra year to clear one paper and finish his thesis. The extended stay and the sliding rupee together drained the budget far beyond the original plan.

But there are other countries that have a robust public education system, such as Germany. A recent graduate from Hochschule Neu-Ulm University, Siddhant Pratap told India Today Digital that public universities in Germany charge little or no tuition, but living costs are in euros.

Pratap said he carried EUR 10,000 in savings and later earned part-time in euros as well, so he wasn't affected as much, and the tuition fee was zero for him. "But if my parents were sending money every month from India, the same Rs 50,000 that bought EUR 595 in early 2024 now buys only EUR 555, which is a 7% cut in spending power," he said.

But there are exceptions, such as in countries like Singapore. Mumbai-based Spandana Bhura, currently pursuing her master's in international affairs at Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, says the rupee and Singapore Dollar rate has stayed stable around Rs 68-70 since she left India about five months ago. "The first two months I was converting everything and panicking, but then you stop and fix a budget in SGD," she says.

Because the Singapore dollar is tightly managed against a basket dominated by the US dollar, sharp rupee falls against the USD do not always translate into higher costs in Singapore. But that is a one-off exception.

The rupee has slipped past the 90-mark and could slide further. Though the weakening or strengthening of the rupee is discussed in terms of trade, it has a silent impact on the lakhs of Indians studying abroad. With every slide of the Indian rupee, the surcharge on foreign education also keeps rising in most cases.