Aix-Marseille University announces measures to tackle student hardship
Aix-Marseille University has announced that 1,500 non-EU students will receive tuition fee exemptions, as its president calls for a new monthly income of up to €1,000 to tackle growing student poverty.
Éric Berton, president of France’s largest university, wants financial hardship among students to become a major issue ahead of the 2027 presidential election, arguing that difficulties paying for food, housing and healthcare are increasingly affecting their chances of succeeding academically.
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1,500 international students to receive fee exemptions
Since the start of the new academic year, most students from outside the European Union have faced differentiated tuition fees of €2,895 for undergraduate degrees and €3,941 for master’s degrees.
Around 5,500 students at Aix-Marseille University are affected.
However, current rules allow the university to exempt up to 30% of those concerned in 2026, enabling AMU to offer support to around 1,500 students.
The exemptions will range from 75% to the full cost of tuition and will be decided individually and reviewed each year.
Priority will be given to students moving on to a new level of study, those from conflict zones and recipients of excellence scholarships, with students from Lebanon, Palestine and Ukraine among those specifically mentioned.
The announcement came as student and teaching organisations demonstrated outside the Palais du Pharo in Marseille on Monday against the financial impact of the new fees.
Monthly student income proposed
Berton is also calling for a much broader change to the way students are financially supported in France, proposing a means-tested income of between €800 and €1,000 per month.
He said one in four students goes without healthcare and one in three struggles to pay their rent, describing the situation as “student poverty” rather than simply financial hardship.
Under his proposal, the monthly payment would not be unconditional.
Eligibility would take into account a student’s financial circumstances, as well as their attendance and academic progress.
Berton argues that providing sufficient income would allow students to eat properly, access healthcare and participate in cultural activities without having to rely as heavily on paid work alongside their studies.
The proposal would require a significant increase in public spending, potentially between one-and-a-half and twice the current higher education budget.
Student hardship to become part of 2027 debate
Aix-Marseille University already operates several initiatives for students facing financial difficulties, including food distributions, solidarity grocery shops and health centres.
At its Schuman campus in Aix-en-Provence, eligible students can buy food and hygiene products at 10% of their usual price.
Berton now wants the wider issue of student living conditions to feature prominently in the 2027 presidential election campaign.
As part of AMU’s Jeunesse 2027 initiative, 200 young people have worked with university experts and economists from the Cercle des économistes on proposals addressing the challenges facing their generation.
The results are due to begin being presented from 6 October, alongside an Ipsos survey.