Your MBA tuition fee at Harvard is up by Rs 7.3 lakh. Blame it on rupee fall

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The rupee's current woes against the dollar is set to pinch students looking to snag a foreign degree. The tuition fee for an MBA programme at Harvard Business School for 2020-21 stands at $73,440 (Rs 54 lakh). While this fee is similar to what was charged last year, Indian students will have to pay Rs 7.3 lakh more compared to 2019. This is because of the rupee depreciating to Rs 74.3 versus the dollar.

Just a year ago, the rupee was trading at Rs 69.3. The loss of Rs 5 over the past one year will automatically increase the amount of funds to be set aside for education in the US.

Harvard Business School is ranked as the second-best institute in the world for pursuing an MBA, according to QS Global MBA Rankings 2020.

At the Stanford Graduate School of Business, which the QS Global MBA Rankings 2019 lists as the number one for pursuing a management degree, tuition fee is $74,706 for 2020-2021. However, a rupee depreciation means that an Indian student will have to shell Rs 3.73 lakh more for an MBA degree per year.

When it comes to US education, tuition fee is not the only component. The other expenses include living allowance, medical insurance, transportation, books and other supply.

Hence for an ummarried Indian student, a Stanford MBA will cost Rs 88.15 lakh for the academic year (11 Sep 2020 – 13 June 2021) considering the rupee at Rs 74.3 versus the US dollar.

Similarly, the total cost for one academic year (nine months) for an unmarried Indian will be Rs 83.6 lakh (considering Indian rupee at Rs 74.3 versus USD).

If an Indian student is considering an MBA at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, the estimated cost for one year will be Rs 85.4 lakh. The tuition fee expense for an Indian student here has gone up by Rs 4 lakh due to the rupee depreciation.

Taking an education loan is among the most common financial assistance tools taken by Indian students aspiring to study abroad. In FY19, State Bank of India disbursed Rs 1,465.36 crore of education loans to 12,439 Indian students for pursuing courses abroad.