Thanks to strong financial support from the French government, tuition at French public higher education institutions is very inexpensive – especially when you compare it to American universities! Furthermore, French institutions make no distinction between national and international students when it comes to tuition fees. If you enroll directly in a semester, year, or degree program at a university in France, it will rarely cost more than €300 per academic year. In public schools of engineering, the annual tuition is approximately €600.

Annual tuition rates at public institutions are set by law. The rates for the 2012–13 academic year are, by degree program:

• €181 for Licence programs
• €250 for Master's programs
• €380 for Doctorate programs
• €596 for programs leading to the engineering diploma (diplôme d’ingénieur)

Additional fees may be added for specific services. For example, the tuition fees for programs that are taught in English are usually higher than for “regular” programs taught in French, as this is a special service provided by French public universities that is beyond their core mission.

Tuition rates at private institutions – particularly schools of business and management – are generally higher (from €3,000 to €10,000 annually).

You'll need to have about €1,000 a month to cover your day-to-day living costs France (including tuition fees) – though you will probably need more in larger cities, such as Paris. Our sample student budget can help you plan in advance.

Campus France does not offer scholarships, loans, or any other sort of financial aid, but we maintain up-to-date information on this website about funding from French and European agencies and scholarship programs for students from the U.S.