How to study Business in France on a tight budget? _part 2

Hello everyone!!

First of all sorry for the delay in posting, i just started my internship in one of my school's start-up. It is still at the seed stage thus i have been working non stp.

Back to thetopic!

In my case i did a preparatory class. Why? Because it was way cheap! It is free and the only thing you have to pay for is the room & board also known as an "internat". Some of them are opened on Week-end ( which was my case) others close, so you have to find accomodation for the week-end. Also during vacations they are closed ( Christmas, easter , etc.) for up to two weeks.

I stayed on week-ends at the school, but i was fortunate to have some distant relatives whom gave me shelter during the holidays. But i know that moroccans go back to their country since it is not too far from france and plane tickets can be cheap. But there are also buses that go to morocco but it takes a little longer.

Downsides. One of the downsides of a "prepa" is that the exam is hell of a more difficult than the other ways described in my previous post. There is advanced mathematics, philosophy, synthesis, history & "géopolitique"( it is a mix of geography in a political context).
Also you should have in mind that at the end of the second year the exam fees may go up to 2000€ depending on the number of schools you decide to sit. But fortunately in the summer between your first year and second year you can work so as to learn money for this.

But all isn't bad because if you are a hardworking student you can manage to succeed but schools are fairly expensive, except for ENSAE which is a special case. It is kind of a financial engineering schools.

So How to pay for schools? Well in my case my school wasn't particularly expensive when i got in last september, but in december they were audited by AACSB and got the accreditation so fees went up!(doubled). The only viable way is a loan which since you are not a french citizen is going to be difficult, unless you have a "garant" who has solid credential. A "garant" is the person who is the caution for your loan, he has to be a French Citizen or a EU-citizen will do too in some case.

Am i going to be burried under debt? No, if you play this right. First you should only ask for 15 000€ (even though some schools can go up to 10 000 € in tuition only) which you will pay in 5 years. The trick is in most business school now their is a "cesure"( gap year between the first and 2nd year of Master when do internships) or "apprentissage"(your time is shared between school and work in a company, you receive a salary and the company pays your tuition fees.) with the Cesure money most student pay back their debt before they graduate!! Or if you don't want to add a year the apprentissage will relieve you of your fees while receiving money.

To sum it up it is difficult to make it out in France on your own if you don't have much money, unless you have some help. It can be informal.