The recent rise in tuition costs at UK universities to £9,535 from 2025 has vindicated my decision to study at the University of Strasbourg, France.
Entering my third and final year of an Applied Foreign Languages bachelor’s degree, the total cost of my course sits at around €825, or €275 annually. This sum, a combination of tuition fees and a semester contribution, would seem alien to a UK student, yet it’s the norm for many just across the channel. So why not join them? As I write this article, I am a month into starting my year at the University of Regensburg, Germany, on Erasmus exchange. That’s right, a post-Brexit UK citizen on Erasmus. But how?
Backtrack three years and you will find an A-Level pupil discouraged by the infamous £9,250 (soon to be £285 higher) imposed by UK universities.
Determined to carry on studying, I discovered that the situation is not the same for others in Western Europe, particularly in France and Germany. Whilst certain French public institutions charge a meagre €200-400 per year, such as the University of Sorbonne in Paris (63 rd according to QS world rankings), the Germans have abolished tuition fees altogether.
What’s unique is that this applies to all international students – not only members of the European Union. Venture a little further and you will encounter some pricier destinations, but none as drastic as the UK. A course at the University of Vienna (137 th according to QS world rankings) will set you back €1500 a year, with public institutions in Italy charging an annual average of €2500 for higher education.
After probing deeper, I stumbled across an intriguing course in Applied Foreign Languages at the University of Strasbourg – a city on the Rhine just a few kilometres shy of the German border in the French Alsace region. It had me hooked. One Student Visa later and I was officially European again.
Given the extremely reasonable tuition fees, you would expect the caveat to lie with the price of accommodation. Yet, for a 25m² studio, equipped with my own bathroom and kitchenette in a private student residence just a 10-minute cycle, drive or tram from the city centre, my monthly rate stood at €375 (approximately £315). In France, all students are eligible for government funding towards accommodation costs, reducing my final outgoings on rent by roughly one third.
As I move onto the medieval Bavarian city of Regensburg, history seems to be repeating itself. My government-funded accommodation in a former salt barn built in 1492 on the Danube River costs a puny €290 a month. Through the Erasmus scheme, I will also be entitled to a grant of €3600 for the year and a further €600 from the Grand-Est region of France.
And this is not just me getting lucky. A school friend on exchange in Frankfurt tells me he pays €200 a month for his room. Furthermore, many of my friends in Strasbourg, whether internationals or locals, had apartments of a similar price to mine – and often cheaper.
This is a stark contrast to the average yearly rate of a student room in the UK, which according to research by the housing charity Unipol, stood at £7,566 in 2023. Three times dearer than my stay in Regensburg.
Understandably, monolinguals may be put off the idea of living abroad. However, whilst I would promote aspiring linguists to consider this pathway, students from other academic backgrounds must not be discouraged.
In most German and French universities, there is a range of postgraduate courses taught in English. The aptly named Free University of Berlin (97 th according to QS world rankings), for example, offers 26 science or arts master’s degrees of this type, without a penny spent on tuition fees.
The University of Hamburg (191st according to QS world rankings) and the Ludwig-Maximilians University in Munich (59th according to QS world rankings) provide similar deals with 33 and 34 English-taught master’s courses, respectively. Ranging from Astrophysics to Journalism, students here likewise receive costless instruction.
Although master’s courses in English across Germany are aplenty, bachelor’s programs tend to be conducted in their native language. There are exceptions, however. The University of Bonn (227th according to QS world rankings), for example, boasts 23 English-speaking bachelor’s courses, once again gratis.
It must, though, be noted that German universities charge administration fees and a semester contribution, which vary between €100-300 annually. How greedy. In France, most universities offer a handful of postgraduate degrees for anglophones, but it is tough to encounter one as an undergraduate. For instance, the Paris Sciences et Lettres University (24th according to QS world rankings) proposes 19 English-taught master’s programs, including a Master in Applied Economics for around €350 in yearly tuition fees and semester contributions. For a comparable price, you will find six master’s degrees instructed in English at the ENS University in Lyon (187th according to QS world rankings).
For a wider array of courses there is, naturally, the option of studying in a foreign tongue. While the prospect may seem daunting, the benefits are endless.
A survey of employers by the Confederation of British Industries (CBI) and Pearson found that almost two thirds of businesses say foreign language skills are important among their employees. Becoming competent in another language also begets a newfound confidence and the chance to connect with the local culture and people.
Ultimately, the key to identifying a course that fits you is research. Look hard enough, and you will find it.
At this point, you would be forgiven for believing I was obsessed with finances – far from it. When asked about my time on the Rhine, I would rather wax lyrical about my experiences.
Under the alias Declan Rice, I gained promotion with my quartier’s football team, I taught English to kids in schools and, accompanied by Frenchmen, Germans, but mostly Irishmen, I travelled to 20 major European cities. Yet perhaps most rewardingly, I became fluent in French just six months after studying it at A-Level. The international friendships and memories I’ve created reassure me that Brexit can be seen as an obstacle, rather than a restriction. And looking ahead to uncertain times, British presence on the continent will be imperative.
So, young people, if you’re worried about Brexit ruining your relationship with continental Europe, what better way to fix that than go and study there on the cheap?
