As the ringgit drops, the struggle game gets real. How painful would it be for some of the Malaysian students living abroad to handle this crisis?

It is hard to actually cope with the stress of having a financial problem as some of them do not come from a wealthy family.

As a method of surviving for some of them, they have to venture to work part-time to support their expenses, and find extra income for their education.

As the value of the Malaysian ringgit hits RM4 to one US dollar, the affected Malaysian students had to reschedule their expenses, be it for their daily budget, or for months or years. If before, they could enjoy spending lavishly, but after the crisis took over they had to spend in a thriftier way.

As a norm, students who are sent to overseas to study come from families with only basic incomes, they do not come from a wealthy families as they chose to study with the support of scholarships. Hence the struggle of going through currency exchange could lead to mental breakdown, losing focus to study, and maybe giving up in pursuing their studies.

Parents who send money for their children are affected in the context of having to send lots more money than before. It is fortunate for those families who able to adapt and cope with this crisis until it is over, but what would it takes for families who could not afford to send money to support their children abroad?

As a student myself, I am lucky not to have experienced such issues as I am studying locally, but I had experienced going through financial problems a number of times, and I could not describe in words how depressed I was during the experience.

I come from a middle-class family, who are able to support me from time to time. When having to face financial issues, the only thing I thought of is to pull out from pursuing my studies, hence I personally know the pain of struggling, the emotional breakdown to counter every day, the tight budget schedule, and tonnes of matters to adapt with when going through a financial crisis.

My full respect goes to those survivors affected by the depreciation of Malaysian ringgit, and offer prayers for them to be always able to find strength despite having to cope alone without families by their side.