France

What changed: the decree of May 2026

Décret no. 2026-385 of 19 May 2026 fundamentally changed the picture. Since 2019, differentiated fees for non-EU students had been encouraged but optional, and most universities declined to charge them. From 2026/2027 they became effectively mandatory, and universities' ability to waive them is capped.

Current rates per Campus France: bachelor's is EUR 178 a year for EU, EEA and Swiss citizens against EUR 2,902 for everyone else; master's is EUR 255 against EUR 3,950. Doctoral study remains the exception, charged at the standard EUR 397 regardless of nationality.

Universities may exempt at most 30% of their non-EU students in 2026/2027 — confirmed on Université Lyon 1's official page. An exemption is therefore not something to plan around as the default.

Who is exempt automatically

Beyond the capped waivers, some categories are exempt automatically: doctoral candidates, third-cycle health students, refugees and holders of subsidiary protection, long-term resident cardholders, those with French tax residency for over two years, CPGE students, residents of Québec, French government scholarship holders, and students already exempt in 2025/26 who continue at the same institution on the same programme.

The honest conclusion: even after the increase, EUR 2,902–3,950 a year at a globally ranked public university remains far below the UK, US or Australia. But "France is nearly free" is no longer accurate, and you cannot budget on it.

The Eiffel scholarship and the visa

The main government scholarship is France Excellence Eiffel, managed by Campus France. A structural point that matters: students cannot apply themselves — the host French institution applies on their behalf. The 2026 call closed on 8 January 2026 and the next cycle's dates are unconfirmed, so we do not publish them.

The visa is the VLS-TS "étudiant", which doubles as a residence permit but must be validated within three months of arrival. Work is permitted up to 20 hours a week. For 46 countries, going through the "Études en France" (Campus France) platform is mandatory.

UNIPROFI and France

We are launching the France direction just as the rules have changed — which is precisely why currency of information matters most here. We track this decree and will re-check the figures before each consultation rather than repeating last year's articles.

Write to us if you are considering France and we will work out your real budget under the new rates and check whether you fall into an exempt category.