Controversy is brewing in France over admissions to selective schools: should 30% of admissions be set aside for students eligible for need-based scholarships?

In France, controversy tends towards the theoretical. This post offers a differing, empirical viewpoint.

How many students are in higher education in France? About 2.2 million. Of these, about 55% are in universities –public institutions that, in theory, accept all applicants– and 31% are in technical or technological schools. The remaining 14% are in grandes écoles, mostly engineering or business schools with selective admissions, or in two-year preparatory schools that are a necessary prerequisite for a grande école. Only this minority is concerned by the French set-aside plan.

How many scholarship students are there is France? About 527,000, of which 390,000 attend universities and 137,000 attend either technical schools or grandes écoles. Only this minority is concerned by the French set-aside plan.

What sorts of scholarships exist in France? In France, scholarships (bourses) are need-based. Families with household income under € 32,440 can be eligible for waiver of tuition and student health fees at public schools. There is some variation among universities, but the average fees at universities are about €500. Students from resource-challenged families can be eligible for additional assistance, from €1445 to €4140 per year. The highest amount of assistance is available to heavily burdened families with household income under €21,350. Students living independently may be eligible for housing assistance.

Are there merit-based scholarships in France? As a rule, no. As an exception, there are national merit-based scholarships, only for those already eligible for need-based assistance, and limited to only those high-school graduates who receive the highest possible marks on the baccalauréat exam. Merit scholarships are renewable, subject to “good behavior” and exemplary grades. The scholarship is in an amount of € 1,800 per year. There are also merit-based scholarships for students who have successfully completed the licence degree (after the first three years of higher education).

A destitute but brilliant French student can therefore solicit € 5,940 in assistance, which works out to € 495 per month. This is only € 40 per month more than the € 545 per month to which a jobless homeless person (aged 25 or over) is entitled, but € 561 per month less than the € 1,056 per month that a full-time minimum wage earner takes home. This is the reality of the French system: the very best student from a very poor household is treated substantially like a homeless person, and is materially better off taking the most menial minimum-wage job.

This reality has been lost in the French debate over allocating some spots at schools with selective admissions to needy students. As is often the case in French politics, the debate centers on institutions and abstractions. (It also suffers from category errors, as some commentators misunderstand “poor” students to be unschooled or immigrants.) The debate, so far, has not examined the material circumstances of France’s most challenged students, or the near-absence of assistance targeting France’s most promising students.