As rupee sinks & inflation soars in US, desi students abroad left counting their dollars

KOLKATA: Most parents with children studying in the US or headed west for the fall semester are under a lot of financial stress as the cost of living and studying in America keeps shooting up due to rising US inflation and sinking Indian rupee.
Shree Mundhra, a businessman from Phoolbagan had set aside Rs 1.7 lakh to facilitate her daughter Vidishaa's journey to Kennedy Space Centre (NASA) in Florida later this month. A student of class X, Vidisha is part of an 11-member team from Lakshmipat Singhania Academy that will be participating in the final round of the Space Settlement Design Competition in the US between July 31 and August 3. Her father will now have to shell out Rs 2.8-3 lakh to fulfil her dreams.
"Our entire budget has gone haywire. I had set aside money for the 10-day trip. But the rupee depreciation coupled with US inflation and rising price of air tickets has left me flummoxed. I will still be arranging the money as my daughter is very excited about the project and I know it will give her career a big boost," said Mundhra.
Birla High School passout Akshan Agarwal, who will be flying to the US next month to start his computer science and economics program at Davidson College in North Carolina, said he has prepared himself to not return home at least for a year to save some money.
"With the rupee getting weaker, the cost of everything I spend there - food, travel, course fees, airfares - is bound to increase. This is a financial burden we did not factor in. Such costs put a lot of pressure on students like us to ensure a return on investment for studying abroad," said Akshan.
Similar is the case for Urvashi Goenka, who has taken a loan to do a masters in finance at an university in Ireland. "My niece and her parents are in a lot of stress over expenses. The initial part of the course fee has been paid but the remaining portions are yet to be shelled out. The rupee depreciation has sent all calculations haywire," said her uncle.