Abstract
The capacities of aspirant student migrants to negotiate the process of going abroad is closely linked to their economic, social, and cultural resources. Based on fieldwork in India and Nepal, we explore the contested role of commercial education consultants in supporting aspirant student migrants to access study abroad. Drawing on interviews with international students and an analysis of the conversations about education consultants within online communities of aspirant student migrants, we highlight how consultants are discussed as being powerful agents that guarantee a safe path to studying abroad, while also, being decried as profit-driven actors. We then move to the perspectives of the consultants themselves, how they experience the application process and engage with their ambivalent reputation. In doing so, the chapter explores how access to study abroad is negotiated and how this often involves ‘co-learning’ and ‘co-work’ between aspirant student migrants and consultants.