US students in Europe gain benefits from stronger dollar
LONDON — In high school economics classes, Avery Scott studied foreign exchange rates through graphs and equations, but the subject felt confusing, faraway and theoretical.
Now a junior at the University of Georgia, Scott is studying abroad in England and getting a real-life lesson in currency movements, as the British pound trades near historic lows against the dollar. The stronger dollar has meant that savings from her side jobs at a coffee shop and at an internship at a church back home are going further.
“I’m seeing it happen every day,” said Scott, who is studying English at the University of Oxford. She had envisioned budget weekend trips that involved hourslong bus rides rather than flights, and dingy hostels instead of hotels. Instead, she has been able to travel around Britain and other parts of Europe without breaking the bank, said Scott, 20, who had never been on a flight before this study-abroad trip and is paying for the program through scholarships and her savings.
American study-abroad students, who may have once resorted to fast food and hostels while traveling in expensive European cities, are discovering the strength of the dollar, which is up about 21% against the pound and 17% against the euro over the past year, is making it easier to find good deals. On a recent trip to Versailles, France, Scott bought an enormous ham sandwich, with vegetables and several types of cheese, for about $5.80 — roughly what she would pay at school in Athens, Georgia.
Aside from study-abroad students, who typically take courses for just one semester, some students are
choosing to pursue full-time undergraduate or master’s degrees in Europe, not only for the adventure of living abroad, but also because of the lower tuition fees compared with those at some schools in the United States.
The strengthened dollar sweetened the deal for Callie Colvin, 23, of North Richland Hills, Texas, who in September began a yearlong master’s program in modern history at the London School of Economics. Colvin said that she applied primarily to U.S. colleges, but that she chose the London university in part because the tuition was about $27,400 — about $30,000 less than what she would have paid at programs she was considering in the United States.
“When I saw that number, I was like, ‘OK, I thought this was going to be this dream, but then it became a reality,’” Colvin said.
She paid off her tuition in October, taking advantage of the pound’s precipitous decline against the dollar.
“Once it really started tanking, in the last month, I was like, ‘I need to pay off my school as soon as possible,’” Colvin said of the currency plunge in September that was set off by the ill-fated economic plan of Liz Truss, Britain’s prime
minister at the time. Colvin paid with money she had saved up from two years of work as a teacher in Texas and North Carolina.
Even though London is expensive, she says she has been surprised by how affordable certain things are, such as theater tickets or a student membership to Picturehouse Cinemas, a British chain of movie theaters.
To be sure, popular destinations for American students like London, Paris and Barcelona are still expensive, even for people whose spending comes from U.S. bank accounts. Rising inflation, which in September hit about 10% in Britain and in the eurozone, has cut into spending power. At the same time, wages have not kept up with the pace of inflation, exacerbating a cost-of-living crisis.
But the dollar’s relentless rise continues to bolster the spending power of Americans abroad, with another jump in value this week coming after the Federal Reserve’s latest jumbo increase in interest rates. Fed officials also signaled that rates may rise higher than previously anticipated, making the dollar more attractive to other currencies, even as central banks in Britain and the eurozone raise rates too.