The change was announced by Higher Education, Research and Space Minister Philippe Baptiste in an interview with The Parisian on April 20. Baptiste said France will now strictly enforce a differentiated fee rule that has technically existed since 2019 but that French universities have quietly circumvented through mass exemptions.
Under the tightened rules, each university will be allowed to fully exempt no more than 10% of its non-EU students, with priority given to those enrolled through cooperation or exchange agreements, Baptiste told The Parisian. The remaining 90% will pay €2,895 per year for a bachelor’s degree, up from €178, and €3,941 for a master’s, up from €254.
The announcement is the centerpiece of a broader government strategy titled “Choose France For Higher Education,” which also restructures scholarships. Under the new framework, 60% of grants for international students will be earmarked for fields the government considers strategic, including artificial intelligence, digital technology, quantum physics and biotechnology, Baptiste said.
The differentiated fees were originally introduced as part of the 2019 “Bienvenue en France” (Welcome to France) strategy, but according to Baptiste only about 10% of eligible students have actually been paying the higher rate, with universities issuing sweeping exemptions that largely neutralized the policy.
French education news outlet The Student reported that Baptiste said differentiated fees should be the rule, and exemptions the exception.
Despite the steep rise, Baptiste argued the new fees still cover only around 30% of the actual cost of training a student in France, and remain well below tuition at comparable universities in the U.S. or U.K.
Students at Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University in France. Photo courtesy of the university’s fanpage |
The new rates will be phased in and will not apply to students currently enrolled in a degree program, Baptiste said. Within two to three years, the policy could generate around €250 million per year in additional revenue for French universities. Baptiste also pledged to simplify visa and administrative procedures for international students arriving in France.
The plan has drawn immediate pushback from French student unions. Suzanne Nijdam, president of Fage, one of France’s largest student federations, told The Student the measure effectively shuts thousands of prospective international students out of French higher education. Fage also objected to the scholarship design, characterizing the channeling of grants toward a narrow set of priority fields as a utilitarian approach to international education. The group is preparing a mobilization campaign in the coming days.
France hosted 443,500 international students in the 2024-2025 academic year, a 3% year-on-year increase and a record high, according to Campus France, the government agency that promotes French higher education abroad. Morocco, Algeria, China, Italy and Senegal remain the top source countries. India moved up to 11th place with 9,100 students, a 17% year-on-year jump driven by the Franco-Indian roadmap on academic mobility.
Roughly 5,000 Vietnamese students are currently studying in France, Emmanuelle Pavillon-Grosser, the French Consul General in Ho Chi Minh City, said at a 2024 education fair. France ranks as the sixth most popular destination for Vietnamese international students worldwide, and the second in Europe, after Germany.
Basic living expenses for international students in France, covering housing, utilities, transport, phone service and food, run around €7,000 per year. Paris remains significantly more expensive than regional university towns such as Lyon, Bordeaux or Toulouse, where monthly living costs typically range from €850 to €1,000.
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