The Chinese yuan has become devalued against the U.S. dollar recently.

¥6.37 is now equal to $1, where as only a few weeks ago ¥6.2 was equal to $1. While the amount may seem trivial, it’s not. For international students paying out of state tuition, the exchange rate has caused their cost of tuition to rise by almost ¥7,000. Applying the current exchange rate, that amount is equal to over $1,100.

Such a change has caused students like Hanxiao Hu, president of the Chinese Students and Scholars Association, to be thankful they transferred money before the rate spike.

”For a time, the exchange rate was up to almost ¥6.4 yuan. It doesn’t seem like much for a dollar, but when you pay $10,000 to come here, it adds up a lot,” Hu said. “Luckily, I was fortunate enough to have money transferred before the spike, which meant less was taken from the exchange.”

The change in the exchange rate may also cause some international students to look at other countries for their educational needs. 

John Beghin, professor of economics, said international students are looking at countries like Canada and Australia, which provide closer to .21 to .225 of their local currency per yaun, as more affordable substitutes for their education.