The anger of private school students over tuition fees

Angry student -

• Due to the Covid-19 epidemic, students are taking their courses entirely or partially remotely and do not have access to a whole bunch of services that were initially promised to them.

• Those in private schools, which pay high tuition fees, feel aggrieved and demand reimbursement of part of their registration fees.

• But the schools refuse, stressing that their economic balance is at stake.

They have the impression that the quality / price ratio of their training is not there.

In recent days, the anger of students enrolled in a private school is expressed more and more strongly.

Because due to the Covid-19 epidemic, they follow their courses entirely or partially remotely and do not have access to a whole bunch of services that were initially promised to them.

Leaders of this movement: students from 23 business schools, who launched a petition on November 10.

It has more than 19,600 signatories to date.

The objective: to request reimbursement of “part of their tuition fees”.

Amounts that vary between 7,000 and 15,000 euros per year.

Their amount has almost doubled between 2009 and 2020, according to a survey by the specialized site MisterPrépa.

“We pay more than our predecessors for poorer quality courses: the generalization of distance poses problems of concentration and therefore of assimilation of courses.

But also poses serious concerns for group work, many in school, "write the students in their petition, explaining also paying rents" for nothing ".

Among them Mathilde, who spent 13,000 euros for her M1 in a management school: “I had to go on Erasmus in January in Ecuador.

It's canceled.

I'm finishing an internship and I'm going back to school in January, in video.

I will very little benefit from the infrastructures of my school (library, work room for groups, wifi, gym…).

And the video lessons are not as educational as those in physics, ”she told

"I think the value of my diploma is a little reduced"

Discontent has won over other private establishments, such as that of Léane, enrolled in the second year of a

in a school of political science.

: "I paid 7,500 euros in tuition fees and I consider that it is not only for an education, but also for the premises, the conferences, the associative life ... However, we have moved away since October and we will surely be until January, ”she explains to

 On the strength of these arguments, she asks for "a partial refund or a small gesture on the tuition fees for next year".

Just like Mathilde: “I would like to be reimbursed for a part, because I believe that the value of my diploma is a little reduced.

I had chosen a business school in order to have access to a start abroad with a renowned partner university.

Even if it is beyond the control of my school, I will not have this experience in my CV ”, she regrets.

A disappointment with which Bruno Ducasse, Director General of Montpellier Business School is confronted: “I received around twenty requests for reimbursement of tuition fees, out of the 2,500 students who are enrolled in our grande école program.

These students suffer from not having the student experience they would have wanted, with a real campus life ”.

"Tuition fees do not cover the real cost of training."

But for now, the students are unlikely to be successful.

“After informal conversations, our management is completely closed at our request,” laments Léane.

For its part, the Conférence des grandes écoles (CGE), which represents 229 establishments (engineers, management, architecture, design, institute of political studies, etc.) has rejected this request.

“Contrary to what one might think, distance courses do not cost less than face-to-face courses,” explains the CGE.

“They are even more expensive, and the additional cost has not been passed on in tuition fees,” she continues.

A reality attested by Bruno Ducasse: "We had to equip our rooms with cameras, in order to be able to film teachers during their lessons, strengthen our computer equipment and train our staff in new digital tools", he explains.

In their letter, the CGE schools also reconsider their economic model: “Unlike public establishments (universities and the vast majority of engineering schools), they do not receive grants from the State and must create their own. resources.

French business schools therefore pay for everything: buildings, personnel, technology, support services, research ”.

While explaining the fragility in which a partial reimbursement of tuition fees would put them: "If we reduce the fees, we will have to reduce expenses, otherwise our budgets will be unbalanced".

“Our schools are non-profit institutions.

We reinvest all of our profits in the service of students.

And the tuition fees that we charge them do not cover the real cost of the training, ”also emphasizes Bruno Ducasse.

In addition, several schools have put their hands in their pockets to provide assistance to students in greatest difficulty: "Our school has released a fund of 100,000 euros to grant them a scholarship", testifies Bruno Ducasse.

Because apart from the students who are in alternation and whose tuition fees are paid by their employer, many others have taken on debt to finance their studies in a private school.

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