DOHA—Optimism filled the air as prospective students and their parents gathered at an education fair last fall to learn about some of the nation’s best universities.

That enthusiasm, however, quickly turned to distress for some like Um Hussein, a Lebanese expatriate whose sons just graduated from universities in Malaysia. Seeking to send her daughter, Nour, to a university in Qatar, much closer to home, she inquired about the costs, which shocked her.

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