France: Foreign Students Risk Expulsion Over €3,941 Tuition Debt

The academic year ends in a deadlock for 47 foreign students enrolled in master’s programs at Strasbourg University. According to Le Monde, these young people, mostly from Africa, are struck from the rolls and will receive neither diploma nor certificate. The reason? Their inability to fully pay their increased registration fees set at €3,941 annually—16 times more than a French student—in application of the "differentiated fees" policy voted in 2019.

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This measure, rarely enforced by university presidents who deemed it contrary to higher education values, has now become standard practice under pressure from the Ministry of Higher Education. Frédérique Berrod, president of the Strasbourg institution since March 2025, stands by this decision. She justifies it by explaining that partial exemptions are reserved for undergraduate degrees, while differentiated fees apply fully to master’s programs, claiming candidates were informed before arrival. However, an anonymous Sub-Saharan student testifies to discovering this surcharge with horror in September, too late to change his plans.

This situation plunges many young people into extreme precarity. To try to gather the required sum, in addition to the €7,400 needed to obtain a visa, many accumulate debts and precarious night jobs. Researchers and unions denounce "financial harassment," noting that €15,000 for two years of a master’s degree represents a staggering burden for students from countries like Senegal, Togo, Chad, Morocco, or Algeria.

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Facing this crisis, the inter-union and L’Alternative étudiante Strasbourg have organized a support fundraiser and demonstrated in front of the presidency building. They point to an absurd situation: despite having attended classes and taken exams, these students find themselves administratively nonexistent.