Is college free in France?

Question

My friend just told me that

Answer 1

In fact you have 2 kind of schools : public school (state) and private school. Public schools are free and private schools are paying. The universities are free too. In fact for the universities wa pay a little for social security but the poor people don't pay.

Answer 2

Higher education in France is funded by the state, the fees are very low: the tuition varies from 150 € to 400 € depending on the university and the different levels of education (licence, master, doctorat).

Students from low-income families can apply for scholarships, paying nominal sums for tuition or textbooks, and even getting a monthly stipend.

The tuition in public engineering schools is comparable to universities, albeit a little higher (around 500€). However it can reach 5000 € a year for private engineering schools, and some business schools, which are all private or partially private, charge up to 8000€ a year.

Answer 3

sotires is correct or almost. they are no colleges in France.

Lycee or college in France,  is basically High school is the U.S.

the basic education is free

University is higher education,like La Sorbonne in Paris (Paris University) and I doubt there are entirely free, or low tuition for French citizens, not for foreigners.

Answer 4

Yes, public universities are free, even for foreigners.

But private institutions are payed for, and can be expensive sometimes.

Answer 5

I'm not sure but you must have scholarship in France.

Answer 6

le college in france, is not like your american college.

Our college is for kids from 12 to 15 and yes it s free.

University, matching your college, isn t free. It is free if you get aid from the state, then the state, via the CROUS (the organism in charge of the students aid) give you an amount of money each month and you don t have to pay the univ fees.

Since I am not from these lucky who get money from the state,I can tell you that here, in nantes, a year costs between 400 and 500euros, that includes the univ fees but also the students health care fees.

Answer 7

My answer will likely not be the best or most helpful but a girl from France with whom I conversed actually mentioned that university (I believe) education was free.  I was very surprised to learn this.  I am unsure if it is the same for college, but she did mention that it is free for many types of career training but not for others.  I am not certain of the specific details as to which type of career paths would be tuition-free and which would not.  There was also a specific program that covered part of your rent if you were working, I believe.  If I can find the link to this again, I will post it here.  

Good luck!

Answer 8

I don't know if college is free, but if it is, that's why income tax there can be 60% and that value added tax (hidden sales tax) can be 17.5%.  Free generally means free for the receipient, but that someone else has to pay for it.  And not just the wealthy ppl.

Answer 9

yea...only if ur willing to suck some c**k

Answer 10

State education is free -you just pay to enrol.

Answer 11

Just to mention one linguistic pitfall to avoid if you are checking out French education web sites or asking French people.

The word "collège" in French doesn't mean the same as "college" in British or American English.

It means middle school - i.e age about 11 to 14 or 15.

PS, I don't know where "Bugs Bunny" got his 60% income tax figure from. Probably his imagination.

PPS. La Sorbonne is one of the 13 universities in Paris and the suburbs. There is a registration fee, around €150 to €300, which is the same for French and foreign nationals.

In fact, last summer I came  across a group of American students who were doing an expensive crash summer course in French ahead of starting at medical school in France. The person I spoke to explained that even with the cost of flights, living expenses, the French course etc, he was still way ahead compared with the cost of studying medicine in the US.  Note that medical school is open to all who have the Bac  (school leaving exam). So you get horrendously overcrowded classes in the first year, culminating in massive failure rate. The subsequent years are OK though.