France raises international tuition fees up to 16-fold from September 2026
By Muntasir • Published Jul 16, 2026 • Updated Sep 20, 2026 • Study Abroad, Study in Europe, Money & Budgeting, Education News & Policy
France raises tuition for non-EU students starting September 2026: bachelor's fees jump from about 178 euros to 2,895 euros a year, and master's from about 254 euros to 3,941 euros. Only 10 percent of non-EU students get a fee waiver.
💶 Bachelor's: 2,895 euros a year, up from about 178 euros
💶 Master's: 3,941 euros a year, up from about 254 euros
📩 EU, EEA, and Swiss students keep the low rate
⏱️ Takes effect for the 2026-27 academic year
The new fee structure
Starting with the 2026-27 academic year, non-EU students newly enrolling at French public universities pay 2,895 euros a year for a bachelor's degree and 3,941 euros a year for a master's degree, according to ICEF Monitor . Previous fees sat at roughly 178 euros for a bachelor's and 254 euros for a master's, so the increase runs up to 16 times the old rate.
France first introduced differentiated fees for non-EU students in 2019, but many universities chose not to apply them. The 2026 directive makes the higher fees mandatory across public institutions overseen by the Ministry of Higher Education.
Who actually pays the new rate
The higher fees apply to students from outside the EU, the European Economic Area, and Switzerland. According to Campus France , nationals of EU and EEA countries, including Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein, along with Swiss nationals, keep paying the low domestic rate. That leaves students from the UK, Turkey, and Balkan countries outside the EU among those facing the new fees, unless they qualify for a specific exemption.
Exemptions also cover students already enrolled before the policy took hold, doctoral students, students on partnership programs such as Erasmus+, French government scholarship holders, and students with refugee status or a family residence permit.
The 10 percent exemption cap
Universities are limited to waiving fees for no more than 10 percent of their non-EU students, mostly reserved for scholarship holders and students facing personal hardship. The higher education minister described the new approach directly: differentiated fees are now the rule, and exemption is the exception.
About 60 percent of the scholarship funding tied to the policy targets students in priority fields, including health, digital technology, AI, quantum science, biotechnology, environmental studies, energy, space, food science, and communications.
Why universities are pushing back
France Universités, the body representing French higher education institutions, called the directive a setback for university autonomy since it removes the freedom individual institutions had to set their own fee policy. The organization also argued the mandatory fees will not reduce the deterrence effect the exemptions were meant to soften.
France counted 443,500 foreign students in 2024-25, about 15 percent of its total student population, and more than 60 percent of them come from African countries, a group especially sensitive to fee increases. The government frames the fee rise within its Bienvenue en France strategy, which aims to attract 500,000 international students by 2027, and projects the new fees will generate about 250 million euros a year for public universities.
If you are planning to study in France
💶 Budget for the full 2,895 or 3,941 euro rate unless you hold an EU, EEA, or Swiss passport
📩 Ask your target university directly about scholarship and exemption programs before you apply
🎓 Consider priority fields like AI, biotechnology, or energy, where more scholarship funding is available