Moroccan Students Face Rising Costs as France Hikes Tuition and Living Expenses

Foreign students in France will see their expenses increase considerably. In a recent study, the UNEF notably announces a 6.47% increase in the cost of living for students starting in September 2023, which is equivalent to about 600 euros more per year. In detail, housing, which represents more than half of students’ expenses, will increase by 3 to 4%. The same will be true for transportation (6% for non-scholarship holders and 4% for scholarship holders), food (over 14%), medical consultations (18%), pharmaceutical expenses (17%) and optical expenses (10%).

Moroccan students are already feeling the effects of this high cost of living, which puts them in a situation of "great precariousness" according to the UNEF. When interviewed by Le360, some Moroccan students confirm this. "The Family Allowance Fund (CAF) helped me pay for social housing between 200 and 300 euros," says Mohamed Ali Srir, 21, a second-year student in imaging and artificial intelligence (AI) at Télécom Paris. The young Moroccan is luckier than others, as he is a beneficiary of the French Social Security Scholarship (BCS) and a merit scholarship from the Moroccan government worth 5,000 euros per year.

His compatriot Ilham Ayyad, 22, who will be starting his Master 1 studies at ESC Clermont in September, will face the harsh reality of inflation. "Every month, my parents wire me 650 euros. The rent represents 50% of this amount," he confides. Ismail, another Moroccan student, who used to pay 150 euros per month for his purchases, should now pay double. "I used to shop at certain supermarkets that offered reasonable prices. Now they all offer almost identical prices," laments Ikram Hamid, a high school student at a Parisian engineering school, noting that food prices have risen sharply since last year.

Non-scholarship students from modest families are particularly affected by this difficult situation. "As an association, we have received requests for assistance from students who have been affected by the increase in living expenses. We refer them to other organizations that can provide them with food baskets," explains Mohamed Ali Srir. Some are forced to give private lessons or work as interns to make ends meet. A warning to new Moroccan students about to join France. They will have to prepare accordingly to cope with inflation.