French government releases exceptional support for financially exposed students

In the wake of the French Prime Minister’s speech on May 4th, the Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation detailed the terms of payment of the new one-off support for students in precarious situation.

As the Ministry underlines, “students are particularly exposed in such context”. Because of the lockdown and the state of sanitary emergency, students must face an “increase of financial and social difficulties” in relation with the loss of paid activity or an internship.
 

New financial support for 800,000 young people

The French government decided to pay an exceptional new support to face the difficult situation. The new material assistance should benefit 800,000 young people in precarious situation, of which about half are students, according to the Ministry.

The decision should benefit students in initial training registered in a French higher education institution (and in “BTS” course, whether as scholarship holder or not) who experienced a decrease of their income because of the loss of a job (at least 32 hours/month, or 8 hours/week) or a paid internship.

A €200 support to complete other grants

The ministry specified that students in need must complete a form available from May 12 on the etudiant.gouv.fr website to receive the exceptional payment as soon as possible.

The exceptional payment is a fixed amount of 200 Euros paid once in full, and complements other funding schemes and arrangements decided by the government since the burst of the sanitary crisis. Such arrangements include solidarity groceries, food stamps or vouchers for computer hardware for students implemented by higher education institutions and CROUSes.

Massive engagement from players of higher education

Since the start of the sanitary crisis, France saw a massive engagement from the higher education community (institutions, associations, education teams, CROUS), and Minister Frédérique Vidal wanted to salute the effort.

CROUSes in particular put in motion many solidarity initiatives all over France: specific social support adapted to emergency situations, food support and purchase cards, as well as follow-up for many other local initiatives implemented in various regions.