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What changes for students at French universities in 2023

Re-evaluation of financial aid, a freeze on tuition fees, housing assistance... everything you need to know if you're starting at a French university in 2023.

Published: 21 September 2023 13:59 CEST

What changes for students at French universities in 2023

Student life in France involves a lot of administration... (Photo by Thibaud MORITZ / AFP)

The new academic year has just started in France, and thousands of students are heading back to university – or starting out on their studies, after passing their bac in the summer.

Meanwhile, the next set of bac students are gearing up for their big educational year, and starting to wonder about the mysteries of the French university application system Parcoursup – while parents are concerned about finances, and making sure their children have decent lodgings.

There’s far too much emotional, practical and financial baggage to unpack in that last paragraph for a simple article. But, here are a few things that it’s worth knowing – from how much you’ll have to pay in tuition fees, to how to get grants.

This article mainly concerns students who have been living in France as the situation is often different for overseas students – and in this instance that means students travelling from overseas for university, if your children are joining from a French school they count as home students, even if they don’t have French nationality.

Fees

The freeze on university tuition fees has been extended for the fifth year in a row at €170 per year for bachelor degrees and €243 for masters diplomas.

Non-scholarship students are also required to pay an annual €100 Contribution vie étudiante et de campus (CVEC) to improve living conditions on campus.

Fees for overseas students are calculated differently and can run into several thousand euro.

Housing

Students looking for accommodation at university are advised to go to the Caisse d’allocations familiales (Caf) website for help and advice.

Be aware that this housing assistance could result in a significant decrease in the amount of family allowance available to the families of students at university. It is, however, worth consulting Caf.

Grants

Grants (bourses) are available to help students with the cost of university life – if you’re resident in France this is dependent on your income (or the income of your parents if you’re just finishing school). Being a boursier (person in receipt of a grant, also qualifies you for some extra discounts such as reduced-price meals.

The means-tested grants vary according t your financial situation, but the basic rate has increased by €37 per month for 2023, while boursiers studying at establishments in French overseas territories will receive an additional €30 per month on top of the €37 increase.

Students with disabilities and student carers benefit from additional help to gain access to grants based on social criteria.

This simulator will help you start the process of applying for a university grant by calculating whether you will be eligible for one.

Meals

Restaurants operated by the Centres régionaux des œuvres universitaires et scolaires (Crous) – which also offers accommodation services – offer three-course meals for €3.30 in the university canteen, further reduced to €1 for boursiers and students in certain financial situations.

Special requirements

Students with particular needs (high-level athletes, artists, students with disabilities, employed students, students with families, etc) can benefit from adaptations and arrangements to facilitate their studies.

Health insurance

French students – including all non-French students who have gone through the French education system through collège and lycée and who are registered in the social security system – are not expected to pay social security contributions to access healthcare services.

However, overseas students in France or French students at university abroad may need to pay. Students from the UK can access the S1 form, which allows them to use the French state-funded healthcare system and have their costs reimbursed by the UK.

Gap years

Students wishing to take a break for a year can ask their university to suspend their studies for up to two consecutive semesters.

Erasmus

Students in a higher education establishment can follow part of their studies in another European country via the Erasmus + programme. This is intended for students wishing to follow a higher education course abroad as part of an exchange programme, or to carry out an international internship.

Masters degree applications

The process for entering the first year of a Master’s degree changed back in February 2023, with applications for the first year of a Master’s degree now submitted on the Mon Master platform.

The French government’s Back to School Guide (in French) presents the various measures put in place to improve the daily lives of students.

It’s also worth looking at the government’s My Student Services website, which has an English-language version. It offers all sorts of information about university life, finances and housing options.

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France has in recent weeks been shaken by a series of attacks on schoolchildren by their peers, in particularly the fatal beating earlier this month of Shemseddine, 15, outside Paris.

The far-right Rassemblement National (RN) party has accused Attal of not doing enough on security as the anti-immigration party soars ahead of the government coalition in polls for the June 9th election.

Speaking in Viry-Chatillon, the town where Shemseddine was killed, Attal condemned the “addiction of some of our adolescents to violence”, calling for “a real surge of authority… to curb violence”.

“There are twice as many adolescents involved in assault cases, four times more in drug trafficking, and seven times more in armed robberies than in the general population,” he said.

Measures will include expanding compulsory school attendance to all the days of the week from 8am to 6pm for children of collège age (11 to 15).

“In the day the place to be is at school, to work and to learn,” said Attal, who was also marking 100 days in office since being appointed in January by President Emmanuel Macron to turn round the government’s fortunes.

Parents needed to take more responsibility, said Attal, warning that particularly disruptive children would have sanctions marked on their final grades.

OPINION: No, France is not suffering an unprecedented wave of violence

Promoting an old-fashioned back-to-basics approach to school authority, he said “You break something – you repair it. You make a mess – you clear it up. And if you disobey – we teach you respect.”

Attal also floated the possibility of children in exceptional cases being denied the right to special treatment on account of their minority in legal cases.

Thus 16-year-olds could be forced to immediately appear in court after violations “like adults”, he said. In France, the age of majority is 18, in accordance with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Macron and Attal face an uphill struggle to reverse the tide ahead of the European elections. Current polls point to the risk of a major debacle that would overshadow the rest of the president’s second mandate up to 2027.

A poll this week by Ifop-Fiducial showed the RN on 32.5 percent with the government coalition way behind on 18 percent.