Student loan guaranteed by the State

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Name of the instrument - Local language
Prêt étudiant garanti par l'État
Name of the instrument - English translation
Student loan guaranteed by the State
Scheme ID
90
Country
France
Reporting year
2020
Type of instrument
Loan
Sub-type of instrument
Loan for HE expanded to adults
Type of entry
Single instrument
Short description

To facilitate students' access to loans, a system of bank loans guaranteed by the government was introduced for all students of higher education up to 28 years to finance their studies. The guarantee mechanism is based on a guarantee fund. This fund supports, under conditions defined by convention, part of the risk taken by banks.The loan is granted only by the banks that are partners in the operation. The loan must be repaid with interest, but repayment can be deferred until the end of the studies. The State guarantees the loan, within the limit of a special budget voted on each year. If and when this budget is exhausted before the end of the year, the partner banks stop granting loans or require guarantees.

Level of operation
National
Name of a part of the country
Not applicable
Name of the region (for regional instruments)
Not applicable
Name of the sector (for sectoral instruments)
Not applicable
Relevance
Key instrument
Convention de partenariat 23 juillet 2008 ministčre de l'Enseignement supériet de la Recherche et Oséo. Code de la consommation :L312-18 et L312-27, L321-31 et L312-33, L312-34 et L312-35, L312-36 et L312-40, L321-57 et L312-80, L312-71.
Objective(s) and target(s)
The France Relance plan will multiply the number of these loans by 5 in 2021 and 2022.
Year of implementation
2008
Operation/management
The guarantee mechanism is based on a guarantee fund whose management has been entrusted to Bpifrance (previously called Oséo), an organisation of business funding and development. This fund supports, under conditions defined by convention, part of the risk taken by banks. Partner banks provide the loan (la Société générale, le Crédit Mutuel, le C.I.C., les Banques populaires et les Caisses d'épargne du groupe B.P.C.E. ). They sign an annual convention that allows them to provide these student loans without a guarantee or a means test.
Eligible group(s)
For being eligible for a government-guaranteed student loan, the person must meet all of the following conditions: Be enrolled in an institution in France to prepare a French higher education degree: a university, a business or engineering school, in a high school for a BTS; Be over 18 and under 28 years old; Be French or a citizen of a European Economic Area (EEA) country
Group(s) with preferential treatment
No preferential treatment
Education and training eligible
Higher education degrees
Source of financing and collection mechanism
Bank loan guaranteed by the State. The State provides its guarantee to partner banks, via the Banque Publique d'Investissement (Bpifrance)
Financing formula and allocation mechanisms
The repayment can be deferred in whole or in part, allowing the student to start repaying the loan after graduating. There is no loan forgiveness, and the current interest rate does not exceed 1.5%, depending on the bank.
Eligible costs
Eligible costs include all types of costs, it is a loan up to EUR 15 000 to be used by the student.
Volumes of funding
In 2015, EUR 414 900 000 was the amount for open loans with a loan average of EUR 8 200. In 2020, the loan average is EUR 8 300
Beneficiaries/take up
An average of 6 490 loans per year was opened which makes 46 129 loans from 2008 to 2014.
Organisation responsible for monitoring/evaluation
Not applicable
Most relevant webpage - in English
Not available
Most relevant webpage - local language
http://vosdroits.service-public.fr/particuliers/F986.xhtml
Recent changes

Recent changes in response to COVID-19

The number of loans granted will increase over the next few years. This decision has been taken due to COVID

Sources
http://vosdroits.service-public.fr/particuliers/F986.xhtml
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