Weak won a setback for students eager to study overseas

The global credit crunch has caused investment banks to crumble, stock markets to plunge and South Korean parents to wonder if they can still afford to be the world's largest exporter of foreign students to US schools.

The South Korean won has been one of the worst performing currencies in Asia, losing a third of its value in two months, and raising the cost of tuition for education courses in the United States by tens of thousands of dollars.

"It is not what my parents had expected," said Lim Jun-beom, 27, who was planning to enroll in February but is now rethinking his plans. "The mood at home is not that great. Maybe I'll wait until August at least."