Study abroad for a bachelor's or a master's? Figures, scholarships and cost to decide

Information checked on 2 November 2026.

Should you go abroad for a bachelor's or wait for a master's? The short answer: the master's is when most doors open, because scholarships are concentrated there and two years abroad cost less than three. Leaving straight after the bac makes sense when your field does not exist at home, when you win an undergraduate scholarship, or when your high school record is strong and your family is ready to fund three years. This guide sets out Campus France's official figures, the scholarships in our directory level by level, the real cost of both options and the maturity questions nobody puts a number on. If you are still torn between staying and leaving, start with our guide after the bac in Africa: stay or go.

Studying abroad for a bachelor's or a master's: the comparison

No single row decides it. Read them against your own situation: your average, your field, your family's budget and what you want to do afterwards.

What Campus France's figures say

Every year Campus France publishes its "Key figures" on student mobility. The 2025 edition, the most recent online, covers 2023-2024.

Africans make up more than half of the international students in France. Out of 419,694 international students (BTS apprentices excluded), 115,863 come from North Africa and the Middle East (28%) and 103,450 from sub-Saharan Africa (25%). Sub-Saharan Africa is the fastest-growing region: +34% in five years.

Among the top 25 countries of origin, Benin (+105% in five years) and Togo (+73%) are growing the fastest.

The higher the level, the larger the share of international students. In French universities, 264,168 international students were enrolled in 2023-2024: 138,634 at bachelor's level (52%), 105,414 at master's level (40%) and 20,120 in doctorates (8%). But measured against all students, international students make up 14% of bachelor's enrolments, 18% of master's enrolments and 37% of doctoral enrolments. In other words, French universities take in many international students at bachelor's level, but it is at master's and doctoral level that they recruit them most, proportionally.

France remains the top destination for sub-Saharan students. According to UNESCO data used by Campus France, 502,432 sub-Saharan students were enrolled in degree programmes abroad in 2022. France hosted 66,000 of them (13%), ahead of the United Kingdom (nearly 62,000), the United States (42,000), Turkey (33,000) and Canada (28,000).

These figures do not say at what age each person left. They only show that both paths are well travelled, and that the master's weighs more than people think.

Scholarships are concentrated at master's level

This is the strongest argument for waiting. Campus France counts 11,402 internship and study grants from the French government and the AEFE awarded in 2023-2024: 64% of study grants went to master's students, 13% to doctoral students. The bachelor's level shares the rest.

Our directory of scholarships checked on official websites (in French) says the same. Of its 122 entries, 90 are open to master's students and 42 to bachelor's students. Among fully funded scholarships, 54 cover the master's, 21 the bachelor's.

Two lessons for your timing. First, several major master's scholarships require two years of work experience: "leaving for a master's" does not always mean leaving at 22. Second, undergraduate scholarships exist, but they lead mainly to Turkey, Asia, the Arab world, Central Europe or partner African universities, rarely to France. If your dream is Paris at 18, count on your family first. The full overview is in our guide to fully funded scholarships for African students.

The cost: three years of bachelor's against two years of master's

Take France, where the amounts are published. For 2026-2027, public universities charge non-European students differentiated fees of €2,902 per year for a bachelor's and €3,950 per year for a master's (against €178 and €255 at the national rate). On top of that, the visa requires proof of €877.50 in resources per month, or €10,530 over twelve months.

These totals are a floor, not a budget: they leave out the plane ticket, the first week's accommodation, insurance and the likely rise in amounts (fees for 2027-2028 are not yet published). Doing your bachelor's at home and leaving for a master's therefore almost halves the minimum bill in France.

Exemptions exist but are shrinking: the decree of 19 May 2026 limits each university to 30% of exempted international students in 2026-2027, then 25% in 2027-2028 and 20% eventually. Do not build your budget on them. To compare with Belgium, Canada, Germany and Turkey, read our cost of a year of study by country, and for daily life our student budget in Paris, Lyon and Lille.

Maturity: what the figures do not measure

At 17 or 18, leaving means learning everything at once: a new teaching system, finding housing alone, a bank, a residence permit, winter, the loneliness of the first term. Some thrive. Others lose their first year, and that lost year is expensive, in money as well as on your record.

Because delays are paid for later. Campus France Togo, for example, recommends for entry into a bachelor's not having repeated a year in high school and having at least 12/20 on average from the first year of upper secondary to the final year. For a third-year bachelor's or a first-year master's, it expects a bachelor's completed in 4 years at most in a private institution, 5 years at most in a public one, and no "downgrade" of more than one year. A bachelor's completed at home, without repeating a year, with good grades, is a stronger file than an average bac. Each country's criteria are detailed in our article on Campus France eligibility criteria.

At 21 or 22, you leave with a degree in hand, a clearer project, and often a better idea of what you do not want to do. If the stay goes badly, you already have a recognised level at home. Our article studying far from home describes that first year, whatever your entry point.

When leaving for a bachelor's makes sense

• Your field does not exist at home, or it is saturated, with no public place.
• You have won an undergraduate scholarship: Türkiye Bursları sets under 21 for the bachelor's, GKS undergraduate targets high school graduates. Waiting would take you out of their target.
• Your high school record is strong: no repeated year, 12/20 or more everywhere, and an application prepared from the penultimate year, as our guide to preparing your application from the penultimate year explains.
• Your family can fund three years, visa resources included, without counting on an exemption.

Watch out for countries where the bac is not enough. In Germany, a school-leaving certificate not recognised as university entrance means going through a Studienkolleg (usually two semesters) and its final exam, the Feststellungsprüfung. Our guide to studying in Germany details this step, and the one on recognition of the African bac abroad covers it country by country.

When waiting for the master's is safer

• Your average is borderline or you repeated a year: a good bachelor's partly erases an average high school record.
• Your budget does not cover three years: two years of master's cost less, and that is where the scholarships are.
• You are aiming for a major master's scholarship: Eiffel, Erasmus Mundus, then Chevening or DAAD after two years of work.
• You do not yet know what you want to do: a bachelor's at home gives you time to choose without paying €10,530 a year to hesitate.

There is also a middle path: one or two years at home, then entry into the second or third year of a bachelor's abroad. It requires validated credits and a record without gaps, but it combines the advantages of both options.

Questions to ask yourself before choosing

Ask those who did one or the other

The most useful thing is still to talk to someone who left at 18 and someone who left at 23. On Compatri, volunteer mentors from the diaspora answer connection requests: you present your situation in a message, and the conversation opens if they accept. Our guide to finding a mentor in the diaspora explains how to write that first message.

For scholarships, turn on the directory alerts (in French): you receive the deadlines for your nationality and your level, at most once a week. If you are aiming for France, the Campus France simulator (in French), free and anonymous, places your file against admitted students. And while you prepare, your class group connects you with students in your class in other cities, who are asking the same questions.

Compatri awards neither scholarships nor admissions: only the decisions of institutions, scholarship bodies and consulates are binding on you.

Official sources

• Campus France: Key figures 2025, countries of origin of international students in France
• Campus France: Key figures 2025, international students in universities
• Campus France: Key figures 2025, international students in France
• Campus France: Key figures 2025, student mobility in sub-Saharan Africa
• Campus France: Key figures 2025, scholarship holders
• Service-public.gouv.fr: registration fees for international students from the 2026 intake
• Service-public.gouv.fr: resources required of an international student
• Campus France Togo: recommended criteria
• DAAD: Studienkollegs