Students in US struggle as exchange rate pushes up costs

New York has always been a pricey place to live, but surging prices coupled with a climbing exchange rate have made it tough for Lee, a 23-year-old student of a private university who left South Korea in 2013, to cover expenses with the money he gets from back home, reports Hankyoreh.

“I avoid eating out as much as possible and try to fix my own meals at home. When going to school or elsewhere, I generally use a bike sharing programme that costs US$200 a year,” he said.

On Wednesday, the value of the Korean won climbed above 1,440 won to the dollar for the first time in 13 years and six months. With the United States consumer price index reporting an 8.3% year-over-year increase in August, Koreans studying abroad are dealing with something similar to what their parents faced in the Asian financial crisis of 1997 and what the previous generation of students faced in the global financial crisis of 2008.
Full report on the Hankyoreh site