mumbai, Dec. 6 -- The rupee's depreciation against the US dollar to a historic low is forcing students headed abroad for higher education to rethink how they fund their degrees. This comes at a time when a global employment squeeze is prompting many graduates to return to India without securing work abroad, leaving them to repay loans that are now costlier than they had budgeted for in rupee terms. The Indian rupee's (INR) slide past 90 per US dollar will hit students at various stages of their study-abroad journey, with their overall costs jumping sharply, said Victor Senapaty, founder of Westbridge Capital-backed Propelld. "The same hundred thousand dollars suddenly becomes much more expensive in rupee terms," Senapaty said. After breaching the 90-per-dollar mark on Wednesday, the rupee slipped further to an all-time low of 90.56 on Thursday before pulling back to close at 89.98. The domestic currency settled at 89.94 on Friday. The average ticket size for a loan from a non-bank lender for studying in the US is Rs.40 lakh. An average loan size at a bank is similar, although there is a provision to avail higher loans. A four-year undergraduate degree could cost as high as $55,000-$100,000 a year for certain Ivy League institutions. Senapaty said Indian students will now have to work harder for outcomes. "The entire thing hinges on one question: do you get a job or not? If yes, great. If not, it becomes an all-or-nothing game." The development also comes at a time when a large batch of students prepare to head abroad in February to join universities this spring. Typically, fall (August-September) and spring (February-March) are when the largest batch of students depart for higher studies. Most of 2025 was a flip-flop as the US government increased its scrutiny of visa approvals. Tensions between several US universities and the government have unnerved many parents in India and this led to a 25-50% drop in applications for loans to study in the US in the first half of the year. The result was that many deferred their course by a semester, while others opted for destinations such as the UK, Canada, and Australia. "The rupee breaching the 90 mark is not a 'no-go' for students who have plans of studying abroad, but those who are repaying loans taken in dollars will face the pressure," said Ankit Mehra, co-founder and CEO of GyanDhan, an NBFC that focuses on loans for overseas education. "This is especially for the batch of 2022-2023, many of whom have graduated and are working from India. Their loan payment would have started and now they have to repay a higher than factored amount." Sonal Kapoor, global chief business officer of Prodigy Finance, an international student lender, said currently, "students who are taking loans in rupee may need to reconsider their options"....