Replay webinar — USAFrance Financial Group™ | Morgane Wojtowicz & Adrien Eyraud
$203,680.That's the average total four-year cost for an out-of-state student at a U.S. public university today, $50,920 per year, tuition, fees, room, and board included. A dizzying figure, but one that should not be scary: with the right admission, financing and savings strategies, it is quite possible to significantly reduce it — in some cases, even at highly selective universities, through scholarships and need-based aid.
(Source: College Board, Trends in College Pricing and Student Aid 2025, research.collegeboard.org/trends)
Here's what every French-American family should know.
The American university landscape in three main categories
Before talking about strategy, a framing point. There are three main types of establishments in the United States.
Universities and colleges — public or private — offer programs of two to four years. Public community colleges, attached to your county, are much cheaper and are often the most economical starting point: two years in a community college and then a transfer to a traditional university is a valid strategy.
Trade schools are vocational schools for specific occupations — cook, electrician, pastry chef. Less known, but an option to consider depending on the child's project.
As for the eight Ivy League universities — Harvard, Yale, Princeton and their counterparts — they have acceptance rates between 4 and 8% in 2025-2026. These are daunting numbers, but they are tempered by a little-known advantage: at Harvard and several other Ivy Leagues, any family earning less than $200,000 to $250,000 a year may be eligible to have their child's tuition fully covered, subject to the institution’s admission and financial aid criteria. Prestige does not always rhyme with inaccessibility.
What universities are really looking for
A common mistake: believing that good grades are enough. American universities — and a fortiori the Ivy League — are looking for complete profiles. The GPA (Grade Point Average, out of 4.0) remains fundamental, but it is far from being the only criterion.
Admissions value students who play sports, participate in a club, invest in volunteering — not ten activities on the surface, but a real long-term commitment in one or two. And an asset that is often underestimated for French-American children: speaking two or three languages and having grown up between several cultures. American universities are actively looking for this type of profile. Your children have a real advantage — as long as they value it in their record.
The year-by-year strategy: starting in the 9th grade
Most families think about college starting in grade 11. It's too late to optimize the chances of admission and scholarships.
Freshman Year: Laying the foundations. Consolidate GPA, start identifying universities, get involved in a sport or club. It is not the investment in ten activities that counts, but the regularity over several years.
10th year (sophomore year): refine the list of universities and, above all, visit them. A tip from our counsellor's direct experience: a campus can look perfect on Instagram and turn out to be incompatible with your child's personality after ten minutes on site. Physical visits are not optional.
11th and 12th grades (junior and senior years): take the SAT and/or ACT — the standardized entrance exams, covering English grammar, math and science. For children who didn't grow up exclusively in the U.S. system, a guardian can make a significant difference. This is also the time to prepare the application files — minimum three to five — and to file a FAFSA application if you are eligible.
The real cost and how to reduce it
In 2025-2026, the average annual costs are as follows:
In-state public school (in your state of residence): about $30,000
Out-of-state public school : about $50,000
Private school: about $48,000 (no distinction between in-state / out-of-state)
Over four years, we arrive at about $195,000. But there are several levers that can significantly reduce this amount.
Studying in-state is the first recommendation. The gap with the out-of-state can exceed $10,000 per year — or $40,000 over four years.
Living with your parents (commuting) can save up to $12,000 per year compared to on-campus housing.
AP (Advanced Placement)courses allow your child to accumulate college credits as early as high school, at a much lower cost. A score of 3 out of 5 on the AP exam can be converted to credit by many universities.
Scholarships — need-based for low-income families, merit-based for excellent applications — are much more developed in the United States than in France. Even if you are not the best student in your class, it is possible to obtain $20,000 per year in scholarship.
By way of comparison: a course in France costs about 17,000 euros per year (68,000 euros over four years), but with much fewer scholarships available to reduce the cost.
Financing tools: from public to private
The FAFSA: Federal Public Assistance
The Free Application for Federal Student Aid is the U.S. government's aid to finance education. Reserved for US citizens and green card holders (visas are generally excluded), it must be renewed every year.
Its major advantage: a six-month grace period after graduation before starting to repay. A crucial point on the wealth strategy: the FAFSA takes into account 5.64% of the parents' assets compared to 20% of the assets in the child's name. Everything that is placed in the child's name therefore weighs four times more in the calculation of the aid. It is better to keep the assets intended for studies in the name of the parents.
Private lending
Banks offer student loans with fixed rates ranging from 2.7% to 18% depending on the borrower's profile. The credit score is decisive: the higher it is, the better the rate. This is a good reason to encourage your child to open a credit card as soon as possible and build their credit history.
Unlike the FAFSA, the private loan generally does not have a grace period — repayment begins at the end of the studies. Some banks allow you to negotiate a period of three to six months.
The investment account: the power of compound interest
A hypothetical example, for illustration purposes only: if you set aside $125 per spouse and per paycheck at the birth of your child, assuming an average annual return of 6% (in line with the historical performance of the S&P 500 since 1957, though past performance does not guarantee future results), the account could potentially grow to approximately $196,000 at age 18 — almost the total cost of four years of study.
For more conservative profiles, structured products allow you to invest in the markets with configurable capital protection.
The 529 Plan
The 529 plan is the savings tool dedicated to studies. It can finance:
university fees (tuition, accommodation, textbooks)
up to $10,000 per year for private schools from kindergarten to high school
up to $10,000 to pay off student loans
It works like an investment account — with the same market risks. Many plans offer target-dateallocations that automatically reduce risk as studies approach.
Key strategy : 529 should be opened in the name of the parent, with the child as the beneficiary. This allows you to maintain control, transfer the beneficiary to another child if necessary, and limit the impact on the FAFSA calculation. It is compatible with scholarships — the two are not mutually exclusive.
Some French, Swiss and Canadian universities are on the list of accepted institutions for the 529: about 13 in France, 4 in Switzerland. McGill and Concordia in Canada even offer the in-state rate to holders of a French passport — an option to be aware of for families who are considering a return to the French-speaking world.
American life insurance
Whole life insurance can also be used as a tool for studiesIn addition to a guarnteed death benefit there is a cash value component that could grow over time :contractually-defined growth potential, access to funds at any time, and no constraints on use. Unlike 529, the funds are not limited to educational expenses — valuable flexibility if the child's plans change.
Le Roth IRA
There is no minimum age to open a Roth IRA — the only condition is that the child has earned income . A child who helps his parents in their business or who works can therefore start feeding a Roth IRA very early. The funds can be used for education under certain conditions, while continuing to grow for retirement.
What you need to remember
Higher education in the U.S. is expensive — but it has to be planned. The sooner you start, the more options there are and the less financial pressure there is.
The ideal approach combines several tools depending on your situation: a 529 plan in the name of the parent for dedicated savings, an investment account for long-term growth, and possibly U.S. life insurance for flexibility. All this while preparing your child's application profile from Grade 9 — valuing what they naturally do better than many: navigating between two cultures and speaking multiple languages.
Future written communications may be in English only. For educational purposes only. This information does not constitute tax, legal, estate planning, investment, or insurance advice. Consult your own qualified professional advisers regarding your specific situation. The primary purposes of life insurance is the death benefit. With whole life insurance the payment of the required guaranteed premiums, you will receive a guaranteed death benefit and guaranteed cash values inside the policy. Guarantees are based on the claims-paying ability of the issuing insurance company. 8960666.1