L’Express: What measures do business schools offer to help their students finance tuition fees?
Alice Guilhon: Our 38 schools allocate between 3 and 10% of their annual budget to support students in difficulty, whether French or foreign. These establishments each have their own systems for granting financial aid. This can be a scholarship of between 1,000 and 10,000 euros per year or a partial or even total exemption from tuition fees.
What are the conditions for receiving this aid?
They depend on the financial resources of the student, which are measured by the level of taxation of their parents. In addition to state scholarships, certain establishments also favor middle-class students. Families who are slightly above the state aid thresholds can therefore qualify for assistance. Finally, for students who face life accidents such as the disappearance of a parent, emergency aid can be provided.
Business school tuition fees – 13,000 euros per year on average – have been increasing regularly for around ten years. Has the amount of aid also been increased?
More than proportionally! Since Covid, dedicated budgets have increased by 20 to 50%. Many parents have lost their jobs, it is more difficult for them to finance their children’s education. For three years, schools have therefore financed a lot more support. We don’t want to cut ourselves off from talent who would say, “We can’t afford to sign up.”
Do other levers, such as foundations, make it possible to support students?
They finance various specific needs, in fact. For example, donors choose to donate several thousand dollars and reserve them for a student in a particular region. There are also merit scholarships for the best students, who benefit from aid or even free tuition for the year.
With all these measures, there is little risk that a student will be able to say: “I am not going to school because I don’t have the means.”
An article from the special report of L’Express “The 2024 Palmarès des grandes écoles de commerce”, published in the weekly of December 14