Study Abroad - How Much Will It Cost?

Experts weigh in on budgeting for a degree abroad and whether you should worry about currency values and visa timelines.

In 2021-2022, Indian students spent more than USD 5.16 billion for studies abroad, according to a report by the Reserve Bank of India. Moreover, the number of students aiming to study abroad is increasing by 50 to 60 percent according to education consultancies. This is despite the depreciation of the Indian rupee compared to US dollars, the global economic downturn and visa issues recorded in many countries.

Experts have attributed this increase to many factors, a primary one being countries becoming more accepting of international students and granting more visas than ever before.

There are a lot of things that we can attribute this to. Primarily, you would see that the destination markets, governments such as the US, Australia or others, are positioning themselves as ideal destinations for international students. So, because of the competition of getting the best and the right students, they're extending themselves and opening up the markets a whole lot. What that is doing is that it is naturally creating more options for students, said Karunn Kandoi, head of operations (India) at ApplyBoard, an international study-abroad consultancy. Governments are openly creating a sort of, I shouldn't say targets, but an estimate on the number of students that they want to bring in a few years.

This is also encouraging the institutions to actually go out and look for those students. Some of these changes can be attributed to the reliance on international students' fees for certain universities.