The strengthening Ringgit Malaysia is not doing Malaysian parents with children in Australia any favor. Although the ringgit was at RM2.95 against US$1 recently, it stood at RM3.22 against A$1.
Teacher Carey Lee, 54, now had to fork out around RM20,000 more a year compared to 2009 when the exchange rate was 2.9. She said she might consider bringing her son back to Malaysia if he did not do well. Lee is paying around RM100,000 a year for his studies there.
Banker David Chan, 54, said there was little Malaysian parents could do. “It's painful that things cost the same on a dollar-to-dollar basis. For example, a plate of noodles costing RM5 is also A$5 there. That's RM16 after conversion,” he said, adding that his son still had four years to go in Adelaide.
Accountant Thomas Wong said he was amazed that the Australian economy was still strong despite the massive floods and fires there. He said his son's school fees had jumped from RM28,000 per term to RM32,000 in the 18 months he was there.
Writer P. Steven, 43, said his burden was eased slightly after his daughter got a partial scholarship this year. “She also moved out of the campus residence to a house. That's cheaper. She also uses a bicycle to get to campus,” he said, adding that the exchange rate was a continuous worry.
It was reported last month that there are some 23,000 Malaysian students in Australia.
With the sky-high tuition fees and expenses because of currency exchange, I was wondering why many parents still sending their children to Australia as there are already so many Universities and colleges in Malaysia itself.
If quality is the major concern, perhaps it is very true. I would also rather send my children to Australia or United Kingdom if I'm afford to do so. But I'm not afford to, and money value we are earning is getting smaller and smaller.
With limited income, high inflation and started to invest late, it's really no point to force myself to bear for the sky-high children oversea education fund while taking care of my retirement fund. To me, I would support local study, it's not the same quality but at least it is affordable.
Ultimately, the career success and earn money are not all about quality, but it's rely on individual effort.
All the best, parents.
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6 comments:
Singapore and Hong Kong university rank higher than most Australia & United Kingdom university. Stop with the colonial mentality already.
http://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/world-university-rankings/2010
It's even better to send ur children to US...cheaper compare to AUS..
USA? May be can consider as an option if we tight the exchange rate below RM3 for certain years.
As far as I concern, Hong Kong won't be cheaper? I'm not sure how's their English level. I also found out that many Hong Kees also sent their children to Aussie for further study?
Perhaps Singapore is a better choice, in terms of quality & distance.
well,HKU is rank ahead of NUS and ALL universities in australia.hk has 5 universities among the top 10in asia and u will be amazed that HKu is the no.1 in asia ahead of even the premier
university of tokyo(17th in the world)!!!
all courses in hk are conducted in english and the standard of spoken and written english is very much better than those in malaysia.
no pidgin english like in malaysia - outstation(out of town),get out (off) buses/trains,got ah?,why like this?etc
fees are substantially lower than in australia about 48k HK per annum(22K ringgit) living expenses abour the same as in singapore.
Thanks for the information. It's worth for the parents to check it out!
Since AirAsia is flying to HK as well, why not!
malaysia ringgit dint really went up...it;s just US that went down lolz
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