How to finance your studies? Student loans and grants
To help you achieve your projects, many solutions are available to you. Thanks to your student status, financing options are offered to you with advantageous conditions, in particular concerning student loans.
Find out about the different financing solutions available to you:
Student scholarships
The best known student scholarships in France are the ones based on social criteria granted by the CROUS. It is awarded to those below the age of 28 on the basis of the parents' income, the number of dependent children, distance between home and place of study, diploma and nationality. Students benefiting from this grant also have priority in accessing CROUS accommodation.
If you are not eligible for CROUS, other scholarships may be granted to you. Indeed the regional council or the departmental council regularly grants scholarships to its students. Find out more from the regional and departmental organizations on which you depend.
There are other mechanisms to allow students to benefit from a scholarship, or to supplement the scholarship on social criteria:
- Merit aid is a supplement paid to scholarship holders on social criteria who have obtained the "very good" grade in the bac
- If you are doing a university exchange or an internship abroad in Europe, you can benefit from the Erasmus + allowance. However, you have to do it early, and check with the International Relations department at your school 6 to 12 months in advance.
- Also, if you are staying abroad for between 2 and 9 consecutive months, schools and universities offer international mobility assistance, in addition to the scholarships based on social criteria, and cumulative with merit aid.
- Scholarship students holding a bachelor's degree and going to study a master's degree in a school or university located in a region other than the one where they started their course, can apply for the master mobility aid, of 1000€.
For students not eligible for the grant on social criteria and wishing to obtain funding for their studies can look to the following system :
- The annual allocation for specific student in trouble is for young people in situations of autonomy that no longer benefit from the material support of their parents. The beneficiaries are exempted from the payment of registration and social security rights. This allowance is paid throughout the academic year in 10 months. It is combined with support for international mobility and support merit.
Non-financial state aid
In addition to financial considerations, students can also benefit from support throughout their student life in different areas:- Social support, to guide the student in his administrative procedures
- The European Youth Card, allowing you to benefit from reductions or advantages in many countries
- The "Départ 18:25" program, which helps young people between the ages of 18 and 25 to go on vacation
- The "Un bus pour un campus" program, which offers sports stays at reduced prices
- The license at 1€ per day, to help young people aged 15 to 25 to benefit from an easy payment for their driving license training
- Free or reduced-rate cultural offers
Student loans
The terms of the private student loan
Student loans and credits make it possible to finance tuition fees but also all extra expenses related to student life. These student loans have the particularity of offering competitive interest rates. Students will also only have to repay their loan a few years after taking out, once they have found their first job.
The amount awarded varies depending on the organization and the application files. As a general rule, the student must be between 18 and 28 years old to take out a loan, but some banks can grant loans to younger students who are ahead of their school career, or older students who wish to make a professional retraining via a training.
The rates charged are very low, ranging between 0% and 1.5%, and hardly vary from year to year. It is sometimes possible to benefit from preferential rates depending on the partnerships established between institutions and banking organizations. Finally, there are very few administrative fees to pay.
State guaranteed loans
If you do not have a deposit to present when applying for a student loan, the State through the BPI France organization can offer itself as a guarantee for your file. This state aid is however only accessible under certain conditions:
- The loan amount must be a maximum of 15,000 euros, Bpifrance covering up to 70% of the amount borrowed
- The student applicant must be French and under the age of 28 years