The UK funding system for undergraduate university students has undergone considerable change in recent years. Further changes in the form of higher tuition fees and support for those universities willing to take students from lower income families are anticipated during 2003. In France the state has not engaged in a reform to increase the financial participation of students by raising fees and developing loans. Student loans are available for support in the UK, whereas support is exclusively a grant system in France. Currently, on average, British students finish their studies £7,421 in debt (Woodward, 2003), and almost half of undergraduates in England work part-time during term- time in order to supplement their income. French students do not appear to take term-time employment or to amass the same level of debts as UK students do. Theoretical framework The French Colbertist model means that organizations are appointed to run the Grandes Ecoles and funding is distributed to universities through a variety of organizations. Funding is then increased through business and industry's compulsory contributions. The argument for charging students for their higher education in the UK is based on two contrasting analytical and ideological positions, the equity and efficiency arguments (Williams (1998). Economic efficiency is served 'if individuals pay directly for services they receive' and not served by higher rates of taxation required to fund higher education expansion. The UK government appear to be keen to avoid 'equity gaps' where the students who benefit most from public subsidy are from relatively affluent households. In France, funding is provided to students irrespective of income. Daniel et al (1999) propose that the major rationale of student support in European countries in the past has not so much been to steer study behaviour in a narrow sense, but rather to shape the social role of students. Daniel et al's (1999) model ranges from the student as a learner and young citizen, to the student as an investor in her/his future. Methodology Participants were 300 undergraduate students in Business and Management Studies at Manchester Metropolitan University and 250 undergraduate students (Baccalaureat + 4 years) at Institut de Formation Internationale, Rouen. The authors distributed the survey questionnaires during core lectures for all levels of study. The questionnaire included sections on accommodation, details of income and expenditure, term- time working, debt, class contact time, attendance monitoring and assessed work. Results and implications The survey is currently part-way through being administered. Early indications are that even first year English students have considerable debts, but appear to adopt the social role of the student as a rational adult choosing to finance themselves through higher education and perceive that the excess of expenditure over income is not a debt, but an investment in their future. This has considerable implications for future students' perceptions of the affordability and do-ability of higher education. If, as hypothesized, French students spend more time in class and working on assessed and non- assessed assignments, they may be benefiting more from their educational experience than English students, some of whom spend as much time engaged in low level work in their part-time jobs as they do in lectures. The UK system may be more efficient and more equitable than the French, but these seemingly desirable features may be of detriment to English students' experience of university. It would seem that English students are motivated by the outcome of the qualification itself, whereas French students are motivated by the process of engaging in getting a good education. References Daniel, H-D., Schwarz, S. and Teichler, U (1999) Study Costs, Student Income and Public Policy in Europe, European Journal of Education, Vol. 34, No. 1, pp7-21Williams, G. (1998) Current debates on the funding of mass higher education in the United Kingdom, European Journal of Education, Vol. 33, No. 1, pp77-87Woodward, (2003) We are not to be ignored, Guardian Education