The dream of studying abroad became a burden, the falling rupee spoiled the budget of lakhs of students, the decline of more than 10% put a burden of lakhs on the pockets. – ..

This is a big and troubling financial challenge for millions of Indian students and their families who dream of getting a degree from top universities abroad. The continuous record decline in Indian Rupee vs US Dollar in the international market has devastated the entire budget of middle class families. The situation has become so serious that the education loan which seemed completely sufficient a few months ago to go abroad, is now becoming very less to pay the fees of foreign universities. As a result, parents are forced to part with their lifetime hard-earned money and investments or have to visit banks and ask for additional loans.

From tuition fees to hostels and air tickets, everything became expensive, the whole math changed in 12 months.

If we look at the equations of the global market, within the last 12 months, a historic decline of more than 10% has been recorded in the value of the Indian Rupee against the US Dollar. Where till some time ago the price of one US dollar was around Rs 85, it has now slipped rapidly and reached very close to the psychological level of Rs 95. Normally this difference may sound like just Rs 10, but when it comes to tuition fees, hostel rent, food and daily living expenses worth millions of dollars abroad, then this small change is directly putting an additional burden of Rs 5 to 10 lakh on the pockets of Indian families.

Sunetra Banerjee’s ordeal: Air ticket price increased from Rs 96 thousand to Rs 1.6 lakh, inflation increased on every front.

The ground reality of this economic crisis can be easily understood from the example of Sunetra Banerjee, a female entrepreneur from Mumbai. Sunetra’s daughter is currently pursuing higher education in a prestigious design university in America. Narrating her pain, Sunetra said that due to depreciation of the rupee, she had to spend about Rs 7 to 8 lakh more than the initial estimate in the first year of her daughter’s education. The situation of inflation is such that not only the university fees have increased, but the prices of hostels, food and flight tickets are also skyrocketing. She told that the price of the air ticket for which she used to pay around Rs 96 thousand till a year ago, has now directly increased to Rs 1.6 lakh.

Foreign universities are asking for dollars and Indian banks are giving rupees, 3 times jump in demand for top-up loans.

The main technical reason behind this entire crisis is the loan system of Indian banks and financial institutions. Government banks and NBFCs in India always sanction education loans to students in Indian Rupees (INR), whereas colleges abroad charge their fees in dollars, pounds or euros. In such a situation, as the rupee weakens, students have to pay more from their own pockets to pay the same dollar fee. This is the reason that within the last one year, the banking sector of the country has seen a huge increase in the demand for ‘Top-Up Education Loan’ by almost three times i.e. up to 300%.

Cost of undergraduate degree in America increased by Rs 35 lakh, strict rules regarding additional loan

According to education and forex experts, if a student is studying a 4-year undergraduate degree in America, then due to this weakness of the rupee, the total estimated cost of his course may increase by Rs 30 to 35 lakh. Due to this, most of the students are in urgent need of additional top-up loan ranging from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 6 lakh to continue their studies. However, getting a loan again is no longer an easy task. Banks have tightened its rules, for which scrutiny of new documents, lengthy paper process and complex legal formalities like ‘Power of Attorney’ have to be completed by the student living abroad.

Shocking RBI figures: Indians sent 450 million dollars abroad till March, outstanding reached record level

According to the latest and official data released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), in the month of March 2026, Indian citizens have sent a huge amount of about 450 million dollars abroad to meet the foreign education of their children and other important expenses related to it. On the other hand, the graph of total education loans within the country has also increased rapidly. By the end of March 2026, the total outstanding education loan in India has crossed the historical record level of Rs 1.55 lakh crore, which clearly shows how expensive and challenging the dream of studying abroad has now become for Indian families.