The saying ‘put everyone on an equal footing’ seems definitively outdated in the world of higher education. While HEC has just crossed the symbolic barrier of 70,000 euros in tuition fees, this widespread increase raises a central question: how far will these price increases go?
In 2015, it cost 41,250 euros to study for four years – including a gap year – at HEC Paris. In 2025, it will cost 71,750 euros according to the Major Prepa site. Over a year, the tuition fees of this business school have increased by 6%. And this institute is far from being the only one to increase its prices. 4%, 8% and up to 16%… Post-preparatory business schools continue to inflate prices, making these business studies increasingly elitist.
Less subsidies, more investments
If North American and even European schools are far from being accessible, French business schools are considered as a special place in the tricolored educational landscape dotted with almost free universities and more affordable schools. « In a position and salary equal to graduation (in the council for example, which recruits both managers and engineers), at an academic level and with equivalent merit, the engineer will have paid up to ten times less for his school. However, the reasons for this gap are structural, and this should not change in the medium term,” explains Major Prepa.
Business schools, eager to attract more students, must invest in their campus, their school curriculum, the activities and the salary of experienced teachers, which has a significant cost. Coupled with the end of state subsidies, tariffs therefore continue to explode. “HEC Paris is a private non-profit institution and must be able to continue investing in research, the recruitment of high-level professors and its infrastructure. Nearly 90% of its budget is based on tuition fees, this development is an essential lever to maintain the excellence of the school at the best international level, without massively increasing the number of students. […] The revision of tuition fees responds to a strategic necessity” says Eric Ponsonnet, deputy director general of HEC, to Le Figaro Étudiant.
A return on investment still attractive
But, in view of the still interesting return on investment for graduates today, both in terms of reputation and salaries at the exit and network, young elites continue to pass through the doors of these institutes. “It’s stressful to have such a big loan on your shoulders, but the international experiences and promised opportunities are reassuring,” mentions a Skema student at Challenges. Not to mention that there will always be wealthy families to pay such amounts.
In total, out of the top 15 business schools with the highest rates, prices increased between 3 and 8% from 2024 to 2025, with an average of 5.3%, again according to Major Prepa. As can be noted on the table generated by the site, the first five schools are all over 60,000 euros per course. Business schools have at least doubled their tuition fees within 10/15 years.
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Featured photo : © HEC
