Scholarships in France: The Full Process, Step by Step

France hosts more than 400,000 international students, and it's easy to see why: world-class public universities, a huge choice of programmes (many taught in English), and tuition fees that — even after recent changes — are a fraction of what you'd pay in the US or UK.

But here's the honest part, from your big brother at Dare to Dream: France rewards students who understand the system. The biggest scholarship can't be applied to directly. The tuition fee you see quoted on random websites is probably the European rate, not yours. And the whole admission process runs through one platform with deadlines that close months before classes start.

This guide walks you through the real routes, the real numbers, and the full process — in the order you actually need them.

Part 1: The scholarship routes (real ones, with real numbers)

1. France Excellence Eiffel Scholarship — the flagship

Run by the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs and managed by Campus France, Eiffel is France's best-known scholarship for international Master's and PhD students.

The single most important fact: you cannot apply for Eiffel yourself. Only French higher education institutions can submit a candidacy. Applications sent directly by students are declared ineligible. Your real job is to win admission to a French institution and convince it to nominate you — which means the university's own internal deadline (usually in the autumn) matters more to you than the national one.

• Who it's for: Master's programmes, engineering degrees, and joint-supervision/dual-degree PhDs, in seven priority areas: biology and health, ecological transition, mathematics and digital, engineering sciences, history/French language and civilisation, law and political science, and economics and management.
• Age limits (2027 call): 29 or under for Master's applicants, 35 or under for doctoral applicants.
• Monthly allowance: €1,200/month at Master's level. The scholarship also pays for international and national transport, insurance, help finding housing, and cultural activities.
• Duration: up to 12 months (entering M2), 24 months (entering M1), or 36 months (engineering degree); 12–36 months at doctoral level, starting 1 September.
• 2027 call timing: the call opened in early October 2026. French institutions must submit their nominees' files to Campus France by 6 January 2027, and results are announced in spring 2027. Most universities set their internal Eiffel deadlines between late October and late November 2026 — for example, the University of Lille's doctoral school deadline was 13 November 2026. If you're reading this in autumn, contact your target university's international office now, not in December.
• The tuition catch, explained honestly: Eiffel does not pay tuition fees. However, holders of French government scholarships receive a full automatic waiver of registration fees at public institutions under the French higher-education ministry — so at a public university, an Eiffel scholar's tuition bill is effectively taken care of. At private schools, ask the institution in writing what you would still owe.

2. Erasmus Mundus Joint Masters — the fully funded European route

Erasmus Mundus programmes are Master's degrees run jointly by universities in several European countries — many with a French partner — and you study in at least two countries. The scholarship is one of the most generous anywhere:

• €1,400 per month for the whole programme (up to 24 months), intended to cover travel, visa, settling-in and living costs.
• No tuition or participation fees for scholarship holders.
• You apply directly to each programme (not to the EU), through the Erasmus Mundus catalogue. Most deadlines fall between October and January for a start the following autumn.
• A bachelor's degree (or final-year status) is required; selection is on academic merit, and competition is serious.

3. French government scholarships through your own country's French embassy

Not all French government money flows through Eiffel. The Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs funds many scholarships that are managed directly by French embassies abroad — so the schemes, amounts and deadlines differ by country, and your local Campus France office is the place that knows them.

The best-documented example for our audience: India's France Excellence Charpak programme, run by the Embassy of France in India, which funds Bachelor's and Master's studies, research internships and exchange programmes. Students in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal should ask their own Campus France office and embassy what country schemes exist for them — new ones appear regularly and are rarely advertised widely.

Pro tool: Campus France runs an official scholarship search engine, Campus Bourses (campusbourses.campusfrance.org), where you can filter funding by nationality, level and field — including regional, foundation and institutional schemes most students never hear about.

4. University excellence scholarships — apply with your admission

Many French universities run their own merit scholarships for international students. You usually apply alongside (or right after) your admission application. Verified examples:

• Université Paris-Saclay International Master's Scholarship: €10,000 per year, plus a travel and visa allowance. Open to international students studying in France for the first time, under 30, admitted to a Paris-Saclay Master's. There is no open public form — admitted students are invited by their programme coordinators. Calls run in spring; the 2026–27 call closed on 31 March 2026.
• ENS (École Normale Supérieure, Paris) International Selection: one of France's most competitive routes — about 20 places a year (10 in Sciences, 10 in Arts & Humanities) for a €1,000/month grant for 36 months plus a room on an ENS campus. You must be under 26 and study at a university outside France. For the September 2027 intake, applications run 16 October – 15 December 2026 — this one is urgent.
• Sciences Po Émile Boutmy Scholarship: tuition grants for non-EU students at Bachelor's and Master's level, awarded with admission. We have a full verified breakdown here: Émile Boutmy Scholarship at Sciences Po.
• More schemes listed by Campus France: ENS de Lyon's Ampère excellence scholarship (€1,000/month), Université Grenoble Alpes IDEX Master's scholarships (€8,000 per year), and Aix-Marseille University's TIGER Master Excellence scholarships (€10,000 per year with guaranteed residence accommodation). Business schools (HEC, ESSEC, EDHEC and others) also run their own merit awards — check each school's admissions page.

5. The PhD route most students miss: the doctoral contract

In France, many PhD candidates are not "students hoping for a grant" — they are salaried researchers on a doctoral contract (contrat doctoral) with a university or research lab. If you're aiming at a PhD, look at doctoral school and lab vacancies alongside scholarships; a funded PhD position is a job application, with your research proposal and supervisor fit doing the heavy lifting.

6. Housing and social support (CROUS) — help, not a scholarship

The CROUS is the public student-services network: residences, canteens, and social support.

• CROUS residences are the cheapest housing in France — Campus France puts a room at roughly €350/month outside Paris and €450 in Paris. International students apply through a dedicated phase on trouverunlogement.lescrous.fr; places go fast, so apply the day the window opens.
• Visale is a free rent-guarantor service from Action Logement for students under 30 — vital, because French landlords almost always demand a guarantor, and Visale can stand in for one. Apply before you sign a lease.
• CAF housing aid (APL/ALS): be careful here — the rules tightened on 1 July 2026, and students from outside the EU now generally need a CROUS means-tested grant to qualify for housing benefit. Most newly arrived non-EU students should not budget for CAF aid. Check your personal situation on service-public.fr.
• CROUS means-tested grants (bourses sur critères sociaux) are mainly for French and EU students and specific statuses (such as refugees); most first-time arrivals from South Asia won't qualify — don't build your budget on one.

Part 2: The full application process, step by step

Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Nepal are all covered by the Études en France procedure. That means one official platform — run by Campus France — handles your application file and forms part of your visa process. Skipping it is not an option for a long-stay student visa.

First, know which procedure you're in:

• DAP (Demande d'Admission Préalable) — for entry into the first year of a Bachelor's (Licence 1) taught in French, first-year health studies (PASS/L.AS), and architecture programmes at any level. You may choose up to 3 programmes.
• Hors-DAP (HDAP) — for everything else: Licence 2 and 3 entry, and all Master's programmes. You may choose up to 7 programmes.

In plain language: undergraduates starting from year one go through DAP; almost everyone else — including every Master's applicant reading this — is hors-DAP.

The steps:

1. Create your account on the Études en France platform (via your country's Campus France portal) and note your registration number.
2. Build your file: personal information, full academic history, and scanned documents — passport, transcripts and certificates from secondary school onwards, CV, and language certificates. Documents for French-taught programmes must be officially translated into French; documents already in English generally don't need translation for English-taught programmes.
3. Fill your programme cart: up to 3 programmes (DAP) or 7 (hors-DAP), each with its own short motivation text (max ~1,500 characters). Choose a coherent set — same field, different universities and cities. A scattered cart is the most common self-inflicted wound at interview.
4. Submit your file to Campus France. They check and validate it, or send it back for corrections — so submit early enough to fix problems.
5. Pay the Campus France procedure fee. The amount is set by your country office and shown in your portal; it's non-refundable.
6. Attend the Campus France interview (about 25–30 minutes). You'll present your background, justify your programme choices, and explain your career plan. This interview feeds both admission and the pre-consular opinion — prepare for it like an exam.
7. Universities decide. Institutions see your validated file and respond through the platform. If you receive several offers, you accept the one you prefer by the choice deadline.
8. Apply for the visa. Complete the long-stay student visa (VLS-TS) application on france-visas.gouv.fr, then submit your file and biometrics at the visa centre serving your country (in most of South Asia, that's VFS Global). You must prove sufficient resources (see the money section below), accommodation for your arrival, and your admission. After arriving in France, validate your VLS-TS online within 3 months.

One exception to know: some institutions are not connected to Études en France (many private schools and some grandes écoles). For those, you apply directly to the school — but if you're admitted, you still complete a pre-consular file on Études en France ("Je suis accepté") before the visa step.

Part 3: Timeline for a September 2027 start

When	What happens
Now – November 2026	Eiffel: contact target universities about nomination — internal deadlines fall in this window. ENS International Selection open until 15 December. Erasmus Mundus applications open programme by programme.
1 October 2026	Études en France platform opened for the 2027/28 campaign (DAP and hors-DAP).
15 December 2026	DAP submission deadline on Études en France. ENS International Selection also closes today.
Early January 2027	Hors-DAP submission deadline — set by your country office (e.g., 8 January 2027 in the published Campus France Ghana calendar; confirm yours locally).
6 January 2027	Institutions submit Eiffel files to Campus France.
October 2026 – January 2027	Erasmus Mundus programme deadlines (each programme sets its own).
Spring 2027	Eiffel results (April). Paris-Saclay-type university scholarship calls.
30 April 2027	Deadline for universities to respond on Études en France.
31 May 2027	Deadline to accept your final admission offer.
June – August 2027	Visa application via France-Visas + VFS; CROUS housing; book travel.
September 2027	Classes start. Bienvenue en France!

Part 4: Costs and money reality

Let's kill the biggest myth first: "France is free for everyone" is no longer true for non-EU students — but what replaced it is still far cheaper than the UK, US or Australia.

Tuition at public universities (2026–27, set nationally):

• Students from outside the EU/EEA/Switzerland pay differentiated fees: €2,902/year for a Bachelor's, €3,950/year for a Master's.
• PhD students pay €398/year — the same as everyone. Doctoral programmes are exempt from differentiated fees, which makes France one of the cheapest quality PhD destinations in the world.
• For comparison, EU students pay €178 (Bachelor's) and €255 (Master's).
• On top, almost every student pays the CVEC student-services contribution (€105 in 2026–27) before enrolling. French government scholarship holders are exempt.
• Exemptions exist: French government scholarship holders get a full automatic registration-fee waiver at public institutions; universities can also waive fees for individual students in difficult circumstances — but a decree in May 2026 tightened these waivers, so never count on one. Ask, don't assume.
• Private institutions and many business schools set their own fees — commonly several thousand euros a year and much more for famous names. Always read the fee page of the exact programme.

Living costs and the visa test:

• For the student visa, you must prove sufficient monthly resources — the threshold was raised in August 2026 from the old €615/month and is currently reported at €877.50 per month (roughly €10,530 for a 12-month stay). Confirm the exact figure for your country on france-visas.gouv.fr before you apply, as thresholds are set nationally. A scholarship award letter counts as proof.
• Realistic living budgets: a CROUS room runs about €350/month outside Paris and €450 in Paris; a private studio in Paris starts around €800. Outside Paris, many students live on €700–€1,000/month all-in; Paris demands more.
• Part-time work: a student residence permit lets you work up to 964 hours per year (about 20 hours/week) without a separate work permit — a top-up, never a funding plan.
• Health cover: registering with French social security is free for students (via etudiant-etranger.ameli.fr once enrolled) and reimburses a large share of medical costs; an optional top-up (mutuelle) covers the rest.
• After graduation: Master's graduates can apply for a temporary job-search residence permit to look for work in France — plan for it from your first semester, not your last.

Language reality check:

• French-taught programmes: you need certified French. For DAP entry, the minimum is B2 (DELF B2, or TCF/TEF equivalent) — and competitive Master's programmes often expect C1. Start French now; it's also what employers in France will ask for later.
• English-taught programmes: France offers a large and growing number of fully English-taught degrees, especially at Master's level. These ask for English proof instead — typically IELTS or TOEFL at the level the programme sets (often around IELTS 6.0–6.5 for Master's). You don't need French to be admitted, but basic French will transform your daily life, part-time job chances, and post-study job hunt.

Part 5: Common mistakes that kill applications

1. Trying to apply to Eiffel directly. Students can't. Your deadline is your university's internal one — miss it in October/November and the 6 January national date is irrelevant.
2. Quoting the EU tuition fee in your budget. €255 is not your Master's fee. As a non-EU student, plan for €3,950/year at a public university unless you hold an exemption or scholarship waiver.
3. Starting Études en France in December. The DAP deadline is 15 December and files get sent back for corrections. Open your account in October, submit with weeks to spare.
4. An incoherent programme cart. Seven programmes in seven unrelated fields reads as "no real project" at the Campus France interview. One field, several universities — that reads as a plan.
5. Budgeting with CAF housing aid. Since July 2026, most non-EU newcomers don't qualify. Budget without it; treat anything else as a bonus.
6. Forgetting translations and document quality. French-taught applications need official French translations of diplomas and transcripts, and blurry or partial scans get files rejected.
7. Paying an "agent" for Eiffel or Campus France "guarantees". Nobody can sell you a nomination or a visa. Every step above is done by you, on official platforms — Campus Bourses and Campus France's own site list the real schemes for free.

Your move, dreamer

France is genuinely within reach for a South Asian student with good grades and an early start — but "early" is doing real work in that sentence. The Eiffel nomination window and the Études en France deadlines for September 2027 are open right now, and the students who get funded are the ones whose files were ready before everyone else's.

Browse verified France opportunities — including our full breakdown of the Émile Boutmy Scholarship at Sciences Po — on Dare to Dream, and check every deadline against the official Campus France and programme pages before you apply.

One application, done properly and on time, changes everything. 🦅

Facts in this guide were checked against Campus France, the French Ministry of Higher Education and ENS official pages on 27 October 2026. Fees and thresholds are set nationally each year — always confirm the current figures on campusfrance.org before applying.