From Yara Abi Nader

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Muhammad al-Sahili, a university student in Beirut, was about to graduate after a university degree in computer science, but his future is now shrouded in mystery after the Lebanese pound collapsed, leaving him and thousands of others, in his same circumstances, unable to pay fees.

And in a painful reality born out of the womb of an economic crisis unlike anything the country has ever seen before, two private universities, the American University of Beirut and the Lebanese American University, raised the exchange rate for tuition fees to 3900 pounds to the dollar in a severe blow that increases the value of fees by almost three times for students who They pay in the local currency.

Al-Sahili, a student at the American University of Beirut, was continuing his studies awaiting final exams in December when he received an email notifying him of the rise.

He spoke to Reuters about his feelings, and said, "Fear, pressure, despair, I stopped myself, I know (I no longer know) what to do ... I am unable to pay the spring (the spring semester) if I want to take a full course (full classes), I want to take it either Corsen, Either I Take Nothing (Nothing At All) "

He added, "And he is the case for 80 percent of those in Irfan."

Sahili was one of many university students who took to the streets in December to protest the universities' decision.

Lynn Al-Harake, an engineering student at the Lebanese American University and vice president of the Student Council, described the move as "catastrophic". Some students are now calling a strike to pay the fees.

For many years, Lebanon has been proud of its educational system, which was founded by American and French missionaries in the nineteenth century, and in it graduated competencies occupying prominent positions within the borders of the Middle East and outside it.

But this educational system has become under pressure between the economic crisis and the strict closure due to the Corona virus, which has resulted in a ban on teaching in classrooms since January 7, while it casts a heavy shadow on institutions and students.

The economic crisis has made the official peg of 1,500 pounds to the dollar that used to be in place in universities blatantly far from the street price, which has crossed 8,500.

Lebanese American University President Michel Moawad said that the university "was forced" to increase the exchange rate to 3900, which is the rate set by the Central Bank for the sake of staff survival and the continuation of operations, stressing that the tuition fees in dollars have remained unchanged for years.

"We suffer from this situation as an institution as much as the suffering of students or parents, and this is in fact (something) imposed on us," he said.

Thousands of Lebanese students abroad faced other obstacles resulting from the financial crisis, as banks banned most transfers abroad.

Jad Hani, an economist at the American University of Beirut, asked, "In a very big problem, whoever has a dollar who neither travels nor learns in Lebanon (he cannot learn abroad or at home), what is the message to whom they are trying to want?"

(Prepared by Ayman Saad Muslim for the Arabic Newsletter - edited by Moaz Abdel Aziz)