International School Fees in Paris

Paris does not have one international school market. It has two, with a shared address book and very different bills.

The first market is hors-contrat: private schools operating outside the French state contract. They set their own fees and run American, British or full IB programmes. They are what arriving families usually picture when they hear "international school in Paris," and they are priced accordingly.

The second market is sous-contrat and the related lycee international and bilingual sections. The state covers teacher salaries; families pay a much smaller charge. Teaching is in French with timetabled English, German, Spanish or Japanese sections delivered by native-speaker teachers. The fee gap with hors-contrat schools is the size of an entire mid-tier school budget elsewhere.

Anyone budgeting a Paris posting needs to know which one they are looking at before they read a fee number.

Headline numbers

Top-year published tuition for the schools in the ISG Paris dataset, ordered high to low. Top-year means the highest annual fee the school publishes; for most this is the final year of high school. USD figures use EUR 1 = USD 1.08.

Top-year published annual tuition. Some schools' top year is age 14 to 17 rather than the IB or A-Level final year; the figure shown is the highest published. USD at indicative mid-2026 rate of EUR 1 = USD 1.08.

Two numbers anchor the market. EUR 39,000 to 41,400 is the all-in international ceiling, paid at ASP and ISP for the senior years. EUR 2,558 to 4,348 is what families pay for the lycee international's anglophone section in Saint-Germain. Ten times the price, the same city, two different administrative regimes.

The premium tier: EUR 28,000 to EUR 41,000

This is where a family on a global mobility package usually lands. American or British curriculum, English-medium throughout, senior years on IB DP or A-Levels, university counselling pointed at US, UK and Canadian destinations. Six schools dominate it.

American School of Paris, founded 1946, sits in Saint-Cloud on the western edge of the city. K3 starts at EUR 25,000. Grade 12 reaches EUR 41,400, the highest published top-year line in the Paris dataset. ASP also charges a EUR 12,200 capital assessment from K5 onwards, a EUR 2,000 annual security fee, and a EUR 1,450 application fee.

International School of Paris, in the 16th, founded 1964, is the city's full-IB school: PYP, MYP and DP across one campus. Tuition rises from EUR 25,500 in nursery to EUR 39,000 by Grade 10. Entry fee EUR 10,000 from Grade 1, application EUR 1,200.

Marymount International School Paris is in Neuilly-sur-Seine and runs to Grade 8 only. That makes the EUR 38,500 Grade 6 to 8 figure the school's top-year line. Capital assessment EUR 12,400, application EUR 1,400.

British School of Paris in Croissy-sur-Seine runs the English National Curriculum through to A-Levels at EUR 34,065. A EUR 8,000 development fund contribution is paid once on entry.

ICS Paris in the 15th runs the full IB continuum with IGCSEs in the middle years and prices a step below the four above: Grade 10 is EUR 32,976 (the uplift over Grades 11 and 12 reflects five IGCSE entries bundled into tuition). Development fund EUR 3,750.

Ecole Jeannine Manuel is a French-international hybrid: French-medium primary with deep English provision, leading to either the French Bac or the IB Diploma at EUR 32,560 in Terminale. The lower years run materially cheaper, from about EUR 10,000.

What this tier buys is the full international package: native-speaker teachers, English-language pastoral and university counselling, a global cohort, CIS/NEASC/COBIS accreditation, and a campus built for the programme. None of these schools is subsidised; every euro of teacher salary, building and programme cost lands on the fee line.

The mid tier: EUR 12,000 to EUR 24,000

Most schools in this band are bilingual private schools sitting between a French private primary and an Anglo-American international.

Lab School Paris (11th) runs a French-IB hybrid at EUR 15,600 to 23,500. Lennen Bilingual School (7th) is a French-American primary from age 2 to 11 at EUR 10,700 to 20,700. EIB Paris in the 8th delivers a French-British bilingual model at EUR 14,100 to 16,995 across an unusually large family of campuses. Deutsche Schule Paris in Saint-Cloud is the German Abitur option at EUR 10,684 to 13,054. Cours Moliere runs a US high school diploma at EUR 12,350 to 12,825.

At EUR 10,000 to 15,000 the school's headroom to pay British, American or Australian salaries with housing is tight. Some schools manage it through smaller campuses, a high share of locally hired teachers, or partial sous-contrat status. Others accept a smaller, less expat-heavy intake. Quality variance inside this band is larger than the price variance.

The value tier: sous-contrat and the lycee international

The cheapest international option in greater Paris is also the most academically selective.

The Lycee International de Saint-Germain-en-Laye is a French state school with 14 international sections built into the timetable: American, British, German, Italian, Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese, Polish, Russian, Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, Chinese and Japanese. Three to nine hours a week are taught in the section language by native-speaker teachers; the rest of the timetable is the French Bac. Annual fees for the section (the part families pay) range from EUR 2,558 in primary to EUR 4,348 in the senior years. The British Section bills its programme separately at EUR 3,746 to 9,090.

SIS Paris Ouest in Hauts-de-Seine runs a similar integrated bilingual model from EUR 2,611 to 3,464 a year.

Two conditions come with the price. The first is academic: entry to the international sections is competitive, children outside the system at 11 or 14 will sit a language and reasoning test, and a year repeated in France is common. The second is curricular: the mainline qualification is the French Bac with an international section endorsement, not the IB Diploma or A-Levels. Universities recognise it everywhere, but the preparation has a heavier French humanities core than an American or British programme.

For families who can integrate into the French academic culture and want to spend EUR 30,000 a year less per child than ASP charges, this is one of the better deals in international education globally. For families on a three-year posting who need an English-medium curriculum from arrival, it is not the right route.

What sets Paris fees apart

Four drivers explain why Paris sits below mainland China and London but above most of southern Europe.

French state subsidies bend the curve at the bottom. No other top-ten global city has anything like the lycee international at EUR 4,000. The cheap end of the Paris market is built into the public system.

Real estate is expensive but contained. A Paris campus does not compete with Hong Kong, Singapore or central London land prices. ASP, BSP, ISP, Marymount and Ermitage all sit in the western suburbs where land is cheaper than central Paris.

Bilingual is the norm, not a premium. In Singapore and Hong Kong the bilingual option is often the more expensive one. In Paris it is usually the cheaper one, because bilingual schools are pricing against the French private market, not the global expat one.

The premium tier prices to global comparables, not Paris comparables. ASP and ISP price themselves against the American School in London and International School of Brussels, not against EIB or Lennen. That produces the ten-times spread.

Beyond the top-year number

The published tuition line is not the bill.

One-off entry charges matter most at the top. ASP's EUR 12,200 capital assessment, Marymount's EUR 12,400, BSP's EUR 8,000 development fund, ISP's EUR 10,000 entry fee. These are paid once, are non-refundable, and are required to take the place. They effectively add a year of tuition spread across the period of attendance.

Registration and application fees sit lower. EUR 1,200 to 3,000 at the premium schools, EUR 300 to 900 in the mid tier, EUR 116 to 220 in the sous-contrat schools.

Annual recurring extras vary. ASP charges a EUR 2,000 annual security fee. Most schools bill separately for transport, lunch, and external exam entries (IB, A-Level, IGCSE) in the final years. School trips run EUR 300 to 2,500 a year depending on age.

Fee inflation. Paris hors-contrat tuition has risen at roughly 3 to 6 percent a year across the published schedules in the dataset. A family on a four-year posting at ASP starting at EUR 41,400 should model a Grade 12 line closer to EUR 48,000 by year four. Sous-contrat fees move more slowly because the state-paid component does not move with private inflation.

Related reading

• Best international schools in Paris
• Best British schools in Paris
• Best American schools in Paris
• International school fees: a global comparison
• Cost of living in Paris

FAQs

How much do international schools cost in Paris?

Top-year tuition runs from EUR 4,000 at the Lycee International de Saint-Germain-en-Laye to EUR 41,400 at the American School of Paris. The premium hors-contrat schools (ASP, ISP, Marymount, BSP, ICS, EJM) sit between EUR 28,950 and EUR 41,400 for senior years, with one-off entry charges of EUR 3,750 to EUR 12,400 on top.

What is the difference between hors-contrat and sous-contrat?

Hors-contrat schools operate outside the French state contract, set their own fees, and run independent international curricula. Sous-contrat schools have a contract under which the state pays teacher salaries; families pay a smaller charge and the curriculum core is French. The lycee international model sits inside this family and adds language sections taught by native speakers.

Are there cheaper international options than the major hors-contrat schools?

Yes. The Lycee International de Saint-Germain-en-Laye and similar sous-contrat schools with integrated international sections deliver native-language teaching in 14 languages alongside the French Bac at EUR 2,500 to 9,000 a year. Entry is academically competitive and the curriculum core is French.

How much do Paris fees rise each year?

Roughly 3 to 6 percent across the hors-contrat schools, with some running closer to 5 percent in recent years. A family planning a four-year posting should model the compounded number rather than year one.

Sources

ISG fees database, school-published fee schedules captured in 2026. USD conversions at indicative mid-2026 rate of EUR 1 = USD 1.08; local-currency figures are the source of truth.