Aussie Currency and Education Costs

The Australian Currency (Wikipedia) has been on a upswing from the past 3 years and has gained 50% in the last 3 years against the US dollar while making it dearer to all the international students. This has an adverse effect of "exchange rate" increase in the cost of education in Australia.

In comparison, the Indian rupee (INR) has been gaining against the American dollar (USD) but not as much as the Australian Dollar (AUD). Hence, for students from India it has become costlier to study in Australia as a large part of the education costs are funded by bank loans or savings in Indian rupees.

Students from China, which has its Yuan (CNY) pegged to the US Dollar at 8.3 for the past decade, are also facing similar problems.

Indian and Chinese students represent the largest group of International students to Australia.

As a recent Blommberg survey shows :

Australia's dollar is poised to end a three-year rally, its longest winning streak since the currency was allowed to trade freely in 1983, because international demand for the country's bonds is likely to slow.

The Bloomberg survey also shows that traders and investors are expecting the Australian domestic economy to slow in this year which will further help in cutting down the exchange rate of the Australian Dollar. Most of them are predicting the Australian Dollar to reach 70 cents to a Dollar from the current high of 78 cents.

There are some who speculate that it will be the other way around and that the AUD will reach 83 cents to a USD. Only time will tell, but the importers and international students in Australia will hope that AUD will fall from its present highs and make it easier to buy cars while studying in Australia.