AEFE gets tangled up in its explanations regarding our fee rise challenge
AEFE has today provided a response in a letter dated 30 April, refusing to reconsider the planned 2% increase in school fees for the 2026 academic year, using incoherent arguments riddled with factual errors!
Timeline recap
- 21st January : CIPL discovers an anomaly on PFC calculations during the budget presentation
- 2nd February : : Initial 2026 Budget rejected by your representatives at the School Council
- 20th March : Formal representation submitted regarding the 2% fee increase
- 1st April AEFE acknowledges the calculation error
- 2nd April CIPL submits a further request for rectification
- 12th May AEFE’s negative response (below), dated 30th April
This letter is problematic for several reasons, and we have replied to it in the letter at the bottom of this page, systematically dismantling their arguments as follows:
1. A major calculation error discovered after the decision was taken
Following our initial appeal, the AEFE itself acknowledged a calculation error concerning the amount of PFC paid by our establishment in its letter dated 1 April 2026.
As a consequence: By correctly recalculating the PFC based on school fees excluding VAT (instead of including it), the lycée makes a saving of approximately half a million, equivalent to 1,2 % of the yearly budget.
This significant saving was not known when the AEFE decided on the 2% increase in October 2025. Logically, it should have led to a full review of the decision, which was the purpose of our letter. However, in its 30 April response, the AEFE provides no explanation on this point and completely ignores it.
2. Erroneous statements about previous increases
The AEFE has tried to downplay the 2% increase by claiming it is lower than in previous years and tried to recall: 2024 : +4% ; 2023 : +8% ; 2022 : +7% ; 2021 : +4%.
Unfortunately, these figures are wrong : the 2024 increase — which families will remember — was +6% and not +4%, and the 2021 increase was +6% and not +4%.
How can the AEFE get the figures wrong for increases that it itself imposed on the LFCG?
This inability to correctly recall its own decision-making history raises serious questions about its credibility and professionalism. It is staggering that an administration managing millions of euros in family contributions is unable to get even basic facts straight when justifying its decisions.
The sheer incompetence would be laughable if the consequences for families were not so serious!
Furthermore, the 20% increase linked to the VAT reform is not neutral: the lycée recovers VAT on its expenditure, whereas families pay the full rate.
3. Fallacious comparison with inflation
Even if the 2026 increase is this year below inflation, the very large increases in previous years have already more than compensated for it. Above all, the discovery of the PFC error completely changes the picture: it justified a smaller increase, or even none at all.
| Year | Tuition fee increase | UK inflation (CPIH) |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | +2 % | 3,3 % |
| 2025 | +4 % | 🔴 3,9 % |
| 2024 | +6 % | 🔴 3,3 % |
| 2023 | +8 % | 🔴 6,8 % |
| 2022 | +7 % | 7,9 % |
| 2021 | +6 % | 🔴 2,5 % |
| 2020 | +4 % | 🔴 1% |
UK Inflation over 10 years: +38%
LFCG School fees: +94% (i.e. 2.4 times higher)
The lycée has therefore built up a very substantial lead!
4. The AEFE is not fulfilling its obligation to examine the lycée’s specific situation
Deliberation No. 08/2023 of the AEFE "Conseil d'Administration" requires the Director General to take into account the specific situation of each establishment.Yet in its responses, the AEFE merely compares the increase to overall UK inflation, without any serious analysis of the LFCG’s financial situation.
The lycée no longer has the major exceptional costs of recent years (boiler renovations, canteen refurbishments, etc.). These investments, which justified the large previous increases, have now been completed. With no new projects of equivalent scale, there is no longer any justification for maintaining an upward trajectory in fees.
Furthermore, we remind the AEFE that it is directly responsible — via the PFC levied on us — for funding the maintenance of its property portfolio, under the terms of its occupation agreement with the Embassy Trust. By increasing school fees to fund works, families are effectively paying twice!
CIPL therefore once again requests a review of Decision No. 55/327 004/2025 before it is implemented, and will continue the formal dispute procedure in the absence of an amicable resolution at this stage.
This 2% increase, applied without taking into account the PFC savings that the CIPL has enabled and without any proper analysis of the lycée’s situation, appears unjustified. Families have already contributed very substantially in recent years. It is time for the AEFE to take into account the concrete realities of our establishment.
We will of course keep you informed of the next steps.
See also our legal action on civil pensions
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