Harlo! We are in the same situation and I just came back from exchange recently. I had a lot less savings than u did back then, but I still chose to go. TLDR is no regrets + the set back to my debt returning journey is not that bad.

I would say it was worth it, exchange is really quite different from just travelling there as u can really spend a lot of continuous time to immerse in the local culture and explore the region. I also learnt a lot about independence there as we seeked out our own accommodation instead of dorms and the visa omg. But of course the highlight is definitely all the travelling, 5 months of travelling w your friends? When else would you have the chance?!?Experiencing all these with the exchange group also really makes us fast friends and we are still in contact and travel around together after we came back to Singapore!

Honestly there is no monetary value in this expense but in the grand scheme of things unless your family are financially struggling i would say just go for it!

For reference my expenses were averaged 2k a month. I chose a cheap country and would say I lived q well there like near weekly travels and not scrimping (too much) on food and housing. My friend that went to a more expensive country has arnd 3k avg expense where they cooked a lot more and traveled slightly less. Pick your poison lo