Students from Mayotte and the French overseas territories in mainland France: preparing your first year

Information checked on 11 September 2026.

Every year, around 2,500 school-leavers with the baccalauréat leave Mayotte to continue their studies in mainland France or on Réunion, according to a report by franceinfo Outre-mer published in August 2026. For most of them, it's a first departure far from family, towards a climate, a pace and a loneliness they have never known. One point straight away, because many guidance websites mix up the routes: you are a French citizen. You don't go through Campus France, a visa or the préfecture (the local state office that issues residence permits). What applies to you is Parcoursup, the CROUS student social file, LADOM's study mobility passport and the aid provided by the Département of Mayotte. Most of this guide also holds for students from Réunion, the French Caribbean, French Guiana, Saint-Martin and Saint-Barthélemy, who have their own local aid schemes.

No Campus France, no visa: what applies to you

Your future classmates arriving from Abidjan or Dakar follow a completely different path, with an application on Études en France, an interview, a visa and proof of resources; if you want to understand what they go through, it's described in our complete Campus France guide. For you, the steps are those of any French school-leaver, plus aid specific to mobility from the overseas territories.

Parcoursup: choosing your course, and your city

Parcoursup is the platform for admission to the first year of higher education: bachelor's degrees, BUT, BTS, preparatory classes and many other programmes. Wishes are entered during the final year of secondary school (terminale), and admission offers come afterwards; the calendar for the 2027 session is published on parcoursup.gouv.fr.

Three habits specific to your situation:

• Choose a city too, not just a course. Cost of living, climate, the presence of other students from Mayotte and of an association: these criteria weigh heavily on how the first year goes.
• Keep all your proof of admission. LADOM requires an enrolment or pre-enrolment certificate to pay for the ticket.
• Check whether the course exists in Mayotte. LADOM's aid is reserved for programmes that don't exist or are full on the island, and a certificate has to be requested from the rectorat (the regional education authority) or the university.

CROUS grant and housing: the student social file

The means-tested grant and a room in a CROUS residence (the public student services body) are applied for together, through a single file: the dossier social étudiant (DSE), on messervices.etudiant.gouv.fr. For the 2026-2027 academic year, the campaign ran from 2 March to 31 May 2026. A file submitted after 31 May is still processed, but as it comes: it no longer has priority for CROUS housing and the grant isn't paid from the start of the year. For 2027-2028, expect the same timing, to be confirmed on the Crous website.

• Fill in the DSE at the same time as your Parcoursup wishes, without waiting for the results.
• Get help: the Crous de La Réunion et de Mayotte supports the island's secondary school and university students with this procedure.
• As a grant holder, you're exempt from the CVEC, the student life and campus contribution, set at €105 for 2026-2027 for other students.
• Think about APL housing aid. As a French student, the ordinary rules apply to you: the July 2026 reform that removes housing aid from some international students doesn't concern you. You apply to the CAF (family allowance fund) of the city where you study.
• Pay nothing for a place nobody has visited. Fake listings target students searching from a distance.

LADOM's study mobility passport

The Agence de l'Outre-mer pour la mobilité (LADOM, the state agency for mobility from the overseas territories) pays 100% of one return plane ticket per year, in economy class, for the whole length of your studies, between the airport where you live and the station of the city served by the airport closest to where you study.

The conditions, as published by LADOM:

• being 28 or under on 1 October of the academic year;
• normally living in Mayotte (or in Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Martinique, Réunion, Saint-Barthélemy or Saint-Martin);
• holding the baccalauréat, without two successive exam failures, a condition not required for the first journey and the first year;
• a family quotient, reference tax income divided by the number of tax shares on the latest tax notice, not exceeding €26,631;
• following a programme that doesn't exist or is full in your territory, with supporting evidence.

New school-leavers also get PME+: a second return ticket paid for during the first year, for the holidays or an internship.

A few practical traps:

LADOM also offers, with a partner, free mentoring during your mobility, via 1jeune1mentor.fr.

Aid from the Département of Mayotte

The Conseil départemental de Mayotte (the island's elected council) has its own grants and aid for students who leave, managed on the bourses.cd976.fr platform. It includes financial aid, such as a settling-in allowance, a study grant, a ground transport allowance or coverage of some tuition fees, and travel aid, such as holiday tickets or journeys for compulsory internships.

Two things to remember. This aid is granted within the limits of the annual budget: nothing is automatic. And the campaign has a deadline: note it on the platform as soon as it opens, because a forgotten file can cost you the aid for the whole year. Also ask how this aid combines with LADOM's and the CROUS's.

Cold, distance, loneliness: the real shock of the first year

The paperwork gets sorted. What surprises people most is the first few months.

Cold and light. Going from the warmth of Mayotte to a mainland winter, grey and damp, with night falling in the late afternoon, wears down body and morale. Buy a proper coat before November, dress in layers, and get out into daylight whenever you can.

Distance. Your family is thousands of kilometres away, with a two-hour time difference in winter and one hour in summer. Set a regular time to call rather than waiting for the low moments.

Loneliness and culture shock. The language of home, Shimaore or Kibushi, gives way to French from morning to night; the food, the codes and the pace are no longer the same; and sometimes you feel reduced to where you come from. None of this is a sign of failure. Universities have a student health service where you can talk to someone, free of charge and in confidence.

The university pace. In the first year, nobody checks that you're working. Find the tutoring and drop-in sessions of your programme early, and don't stay alone with a difficulty.

Mahoran associations in mainland France

You won't be the first. The Fédération des Associations Mahoraises de Métropole (FAMM) brings together some thirty associations, according to its website; in August 2026, its volunteers were welcoming students arriving from Mayotte at Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle airport and guiding them to their connections, reports franceinfo Outre-mer.

Compatri lists, among others, these associations, by city:

Their pages are gathered in the associations directory. Several haven't yet been filled in by the associations themselves: to find out about their welcome activities, contact them directly.

Mahoran communities on Compatri

On Compatri, a community brings together people from the same place of origin in the same city. There are "Mahorais de…" (Mahorans of…) communities in Paris, Lille, Toulouse, Nantes, Bordeaux, Lyon and Montpellier, as well as in Reims, Metz, Le Mans, Angers, Poitiers, Pau and Guingamp.

You can join the one in your future city from Mayotte, before you've even packed: ask your questions to those who arrived last year, find out who will be there at the start of term, spot the next meetups. Signing up and joining are free. How to go about it, and the safety rules to keep with contacts met online: joining your community before you leave.

Official sources

• LADOM: the study mobility passport
• Crous: the student social file
• Département of Mayotte: grants and aid for students
• Parcoursup
• CVEC: student life and campus contribution
• franceinfo Outre-mer: students from Mayotte welcomed on arrival in mainland France