How can you make a success of your next academic year?

Students

The next academic year hasn’t even started yet, but some already think about it! And the first is étudiant.gouv.fr, a website that released a very comprehensive and documented article entitled Préparer ma rentrée étudiante (Prepare your next student year) that offers all useful info to help you succeed: administrative procedures, accommodation, health, everyday life, and more. And the ministry of higher education published a guide for high school students entitled, En route vers la vie étudiante (On the way to student life) a general guide providing tips.

“Toutes les infos utiles pour la rentrée 2024” (All you need to know for the next academic year 2024). This is the title of the article from étudiant.gouv.fr, the dedicated institutional website that publishes every year at about this time of the year a checklist of all there is to know to seamlessly start the next higher education year.

A complete section on étudiant.gouv.fr

Even more complete than last year, the section dedicated to the next academic year is almost exhaustive! The article is divided in several highlights of student life, sections that should be checked before arriving in the French higher education system:

Administrative procedures

The CVEC, Contribution to Campus and Student Life, a “key procedure for the start of year”. The website explains that this tax is collected by CROUSes, by law. The CVEC is mandatory and reaches 103 EUR in 2024/2025, but there is a list of exemptions;
Registration fees: The amount of registration fees depends on students’ courses, level of studies, situation and nationality. For international students, registration fees vary depending on the host institution.

Financial assistance

scholarship grants based on social criteria: the right scholarships based on social criteria depends on students’ nationality, studies attended and domestic/personal situation. For European students or students from other foreign countries, criteria are stricter, as the student website puts;
emergency assistance: throughout the year, CROUSes social services may grant occasional assistance requests, accessible to scholarship and non-scholarship holders. Students may also call the phone number 0 806 000 278, from Monday to Friday, from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm to find info regarding available assistance and processes to follow with the CROUS of the student.

Accommodation

private residences: to “find roommates or personal accommodation”, CROUSes offer the Lokaviz platform, the non-commercial student accommodation centre. Specific offers are even certified by the CROUSes teams;
university residences: the student website provides all the steps of the procedures: from request to the entry in accommodation. International students who continue their training course in France may submit their accommodation application to CROUSes as soon as the complementary phase opens (9 July 2024) on trouverunlogement.lescrous.fr;
accommodation support: there are various support to accommodation systems, such as the Caf, Action Logement (with the Visale rental deposit) and systems at local scale.

Student jobs

many links to student jobs, but also internship offers, work-study contracts or systems supporting professional insertion are developed in the article. Two websites are available for student jobs: jobaviz.fr and 1jeune1solution.gouv.fr;

Health

health coverage: the student website provides “tips to be (re)assured”: registering to the Assurance Maladie (social security), which is free and mandatory for students in France whether they are French or international, how to use the ameli account (a secure personal space to access all services of the Assurance Maladie), how non-mandatory complementary health insurances work (to top up reimbursements from the Assurance Maladie), and more. Registration requirements for international students are also listed;
psychological support: whether it’s because you’re feeling down, you have sleep disorders,, feel stress or have dark thoughts, the website provides all useful contacts and info to benefit from psychological support during your studies.

Transports

Discounts or specific programmes exist for students, and more broadly the young, “to travel for less on a daily basis with public transports”.

Culture

In this field too there is a highly diverse cultural offer, for all students, for free or discounted prices, in and out of campuses.

The article also offers a map of CROUSes in France and a list of useful apps for student life. As the website puts: “when the academic year starts, you move in” and “you can also move in with apps on your smartphone to make your everyday life easier”: