What scholarships are available for students in Paris?

Whether you're a young baccalaureate holder about to start university, or a former student about to graduate, you'll always need financing. In fact, there are several schemes designed to help you reduce your costs, especially if you live in the Paris region.

Student grants in 2021 in Paris

New financial aid schemes appear every year, while others are discontinued because they are deemed too obsolete. On the other hand, student grants in Paris are more numerous and more substantial due to the high cost of living in the capital.

Scholarships based on social criteria

University grants based on social criteria are designed to help students with financial difficulties to pursue their studies. However, they in no way replace family obligations to their children.

To qualify, students must apply for a grant and meet certain criteria. For students in France, you must be enrolled in a French school. Foreign students must be enrolled in an approved country.

The chosen institution must also accept students on scholarship. You can consult the list of these universities online. Among those in Paris are the Université de Paris-Saclay, Paris-Est Créteil, Versailles Saint-Quentin-En-Yvelines, etc.

Student status must be full-time. You must not be working at the same time. You must also be under 28 when you apply for your first student grant.

There are certain exceptions to this age limit, which you can consult on the French public service website.

As far as qualifications are concerned, if you are a French national, you need to have at least a baccalauréat, an equivalent qualification or a dispensation to study in the first years of higher education. If you come from another country, you must have a recognized baccalaureate to qualify for the scholarship.

Foreign students must also meet additional criteria, such as the work requirement. The latter stipulates that to qualify for a university grant, you must have a full-time or part-time salary, or your parents must earn income in France.

To find out how much your bursary will be, there are online simulators that give close approximations. However, you should bear in mind that the figures and income ceilings change from year to year.

Mobility grants

The mobility grant is designed to help students pursue or undertake training in a foreign country. Those concerned are usually part of an exchange program or international internship.

If you are in receipt of a grant based on social criteria or state financial assistance, and your degree is supervised by the French Ministry of Higher Education, then you are eligible.

The steps to take are clearly codified. You'll need to fill in an application form for mobility assistance, along with details of your plans to study in another country.

Your school's president selects the candidates who will be eligible for this grant, based on two criteria. The first is the interest and quality of your internship or study period. The second is your school's compliance with international standards.

It is also up to him to choose the amount and number of subsidies to receive. The duration of the stay, or at least the duration of the subsidies, is between 2 consecutive months and 9 non-consecutive months. The cumulative total may not exceed this period.

The amount of the mobility grant is set at 400 euros per month for 2021/2022, but your university will inform you of the exact amount to be received.

There are also government-affiliated organizations that support international exchanges as part of higher education. The best-known program is Erasmus, which covers the countries of the common European economic area, as well as other partners such as Turkey, Liechtenstein and others.

It's worth noting that this grant can be combined with the merit-based grant and the grant based on social criteria for students on state scholarships.

Housing assistance for students in Paris

Housing is one of students' pet peeves. Indeed, many university students are unable to settle into an apartment or hall of residence because of financial problems.

That's why the government has set up various levels of assistance.

The only difference is the amount, which varies from city to city and region to region. Then there are specific grants such as AILE, which is intended for university students in the Paris region. It amounts to between 500 and 1,000 euros.

This is a one-off benefit, meaning you can only receive it once. To be eligible, you must be a state scholarship holder with a DSE that complies with standards, and be on the admission list of the higher education establishment in Paris, Créteil or Versailles.

You must also hold a contract for housing in this zone. However, university residences or subsidized housing are not taken into consideration. On the other hand, flatsharing and private renting are eligible.

To apply, you need a student social file and a grant based on social criteria. There are deadlines to be met. So don't forget to check the deadlines on the CROUS website.

You can also easily find cheap furnished accommodation at Colonies.

Annual emergency assistance

If you don't meet the social criteria or haven't applied for a student grant, you can apply for annual emergency assistance. This is designed to provide a personalized response to the difficult financial situations that young learners may encounter.

Unlike other bursaries, it is open to all those with financial instability. You must be under 35 to be eligible, but there is an exception for disabled students.

It's important to note that if your financial difficulties are only temporary, the assistance you receive will be one-off and not annual.

What's more, there is a condition of reciprocal exclusion between this aid and that based on social criteria. This means that to receive one, you must give up the other. You must also prove that you are seriously pursuing your studies.

The list of situations that make you eligible for emergency assistance is long and available on the French public service website.

To benefit from this aid, you need to apply to your local CROUS. Once the application has been sent in, it will be studied and you will receive a reply from the university and school services. If the decision is favorable, the exact amount will be indicated.

Payment is made monthly, with the amount varying between 1,042 and 5,736 euros per year. This figure is divided into several monthly payments, the minimum number of which is 6. If your financial situation stabilizes, you can stop receiving this assistance.

The two forms of emergency assistance can be combined. It is therefore possible to access both at the same time.

Finally, annual or one-off emergency assistance entitles you to a waiver of university tuition fees. You should also know that assistance is renewable each year, but a total of 7 years cannot be exceeded.