Many parents have complained that due to the sharp dollar price increases they have to cut down the sums of money they send abroad to their children to fund their children’s study.

The decision to devaluate the local currency by 9.3 percent has not only caused difficulties for poor people, but has also worried well off families worried. Many parents, who have children studying in foreign countries, say that the dollar price increase has burdened them.

Having just received money from her parents in Vietnam, Phan Thuy Nga, a student from Jönköping International Business School in Sweden, said that she will have to cut down her living expenses because she has been told by parents that the dollar price has increased sharply against the Vietnam dong, which means that her parents have to spend more money to fund her studies.

Nguyen Phuong Lan, a student at Maryland University in the US, said that her parents do not fix the sums of money they send to her every month, and try to give the sums of money that Lan needs. However, she still meets a lot of difficulties when living in the US.

“My father works for a foreign company and gets his salary in dollars. Therefore, the dollar price increase in Vietnam is not a serious thing to him. However, my parents say they have to cut down many expenses. Therefore, in the US, I have to think carefully before spending money,” Lan said.

“Previously, my friends and I always went to restaurants when we finished a semester at school. However, we have now decided to prepare meals ourselves,” she said. “I do not go shopping regularly any more, partially because I do not have much time, and partially because I do not have much money”.

Since the economic downturn broke out, Lan said she has not gone to the cinema. In the first year at the school, Lan had to stay at the school for lunch. But after that, she purchased a car and can now go to supermarket every weekend. Lan prepares meals in the morning and brings meals with herself to school.

Especially, Lan also has to think carefully when purchasing books. She only makes purchases when she has no other choice. If it is not really necessary, she will look for the books she needs at libraries. She has also revealed that she will move to another flat, smaller, and less costly.

Every month, Tran Phuong Hoa, a student in New York in the US, gets $1200 in “aid” from her parents. Hoa said she has planned for spending of this sum of money. “I will only spend money on the most necessary things,” she said.

Hoa can earn money herself from 4-5 hours of working a week. However, she admitted that the money she can earn is just enough to pay the phone bill and some other odd things.

Meanwhile, Phan Thanh Binh from Ohio Wesleyan University said that she was lucky enough to get money from parents several months ago, when she returned to Vietnam. At that time, the dollar price was still low. With the sum of money, Binh will have enough to arrange her life until the next year.

Binh works 20 hours a week and earns $600 a month. However, the sum of money is just enough for allowance.

The higher dollar price and economic difficulties have put a damper on parents’ plans to send their children abroad to study.

Mai in Tan Binh district in HCM City feels regret as she cannot continue affording the study of her son in the US. Several days ago, she sent her son to the US, because she believed that a foreign training environment would be good for him. She planned to sell her house and move to a smaller house, and use the money from selling house to fund her son’s study. However, the economic downturn has upset her plan. As Mai injected the sum of money in stocks, she has incurred heavy losses as the stock price has been decreasing. As a result, her son had to return home after two years of studying.

The parents, who send children abroad, say that in general, tuition increases by 4-5 percent every year, and the dollar price keeps rising.

In related news, according to the Institute of International Education IIE, Vietnam is leading South East Asian countries in the number of students studying at universities and junior colleges in the US. The number of students in the country has increased six fold in the last decade.

Lan Dung