Cost of Studying in France for International Students (2027)

France teaches on the three-cycle Licence-Master-Doctorat system, mostly in French at public universities and often in English at the grandes ecoles. Non-EU students pay a government-set differentiated tuition rate at public universities unless the institution waives it, plus their own program fees at the grandes ecoles.

Verified 7 Sep 2026 Sources

A non-EU student at a public university that applies the full differentiated rate pays EUR 2,902 a year for a Licence or EUR 3,950 a year for a Master; a university that waives the rate charges the EU rate instead, EUR 178 or EUR 255 a year. All students, EU and non-EU, also pay the CVEC (Contribution Vie Etudiante et de Campus), a yearly campus-life contribution of roughly EUR 100 to 105, before they can register. Grandes ecoles set their own tuition separately from this system and it can run into five figures a year; Universite de Strasbourg, for example, also charges a EUR 23 non-refundable application fee, and Sciences Po charges a EUR 150 application fee.

Living costs outside Paris run EUR 600 to 800 a month for food, transport and housing, according to Campus France; Paris runs higher. Registered students are covered automatically by the French student health scheme at no separate charge. For the student visa, an applicant must show monthly resources of at least EUR 877.50 (up from EUR 615, effective 1 August 2026, under Decree No. 2026-526 of 22 June 2026), by bank statements, a scholarship letter or a sponsor's attestation de prise en charge. The visa itself and the post-arrival online validation each involve a government fee; the exact current euro amount could not be confirmed from an official page this session (see the visa notes).