France has enacted a decree introducing significantly higher tuition fees for students from outside the European Union, with costs rising to approximately €3,000 for a bachelor's degree and €4,000 for a master's degree — roughly 16 times what French or EU students pay. The measure, taking effect from the upcoming academic year, is hitting African students particularly hard; advocates note that €4,000 is equivalent to around three million CFA francs (the currency used across much of francophone West and Central Africa), a sum well beyond reach even for those holding part-time jobs. Student groups, including the Collectif des étudiants extracommunautaires de France, are calling for the differential fees to be scrapped entirely and for a return to the pre-2019 system, warning that the policy is also jeopardising students' residency status, as a valid university enrolment is required to renew a French residence permit.