New academic year 2023: lifting financial obstacles

Wishing all students a “good start to the new academic year”, Sylvie Retailleau, the French Minister for Higher Education and Research, puts the emphasis in her editorial that the French government has made massive efforts to help students. Here’s an overview of the efforts being made to improve student success, whether in France or abroad.

Improving follow-up actions

Actions target all aspects of student life (accommodation, restaurants, health in particular) as early as the start of academic year 2023-2024.

Three key measures are already in place:

• the continuation of “very social meal prices” for students on scholarship grants and students in financial difficulty, and a freeze on meal prices in the university restaurant for the start of the 2023 academic year (very social price of €1 and €3.30 for other students). For example, the Ministry notes that between September 2020 and the end of May 2023, more than 50.4 million meals were served for €1 to students on grants or identified as being in financial difficulty;
• a freeze on rents in university halls of residence managed by CROUS entities, which offer students almost 175,000 accommodation units nationwide at preferential rates;
• a 3.5% cap on the increase in charges (payable by tenants in CROUS residences).

Targeted tailor-made subsidies

In addition, the French ministry of higher education offered one-time subsidies and schemes for students.  A student who doesn’t comply with “eligibility requirements for scholarships based on social criteria” may still be eligible to other support from the CROUS. Subsidies offered to students without scholarship include:

• a one-time subsidy if the student faces temporary difficulties;
• the introduction of €1 meals, which may also be available to students without a scholarship grant, provided that they inform CROUS social workers that they are in a precarious situation;
• better access to assistance, thanks to the work of 300 social services staff who “welcome and support students experiencing social difficulties throughout France”. They help students who need it to access their rights (supplementary health insurance, housing benefit, etc.) and, in some cases, to receive food and/or financial aid;
• support to refugee students and students under subsidiary protection or temporary protection. For the 2022-2023 academic year, about 2000 refugee students have been able to access grants based on social criteria, student accommodation in the CROUS network, specific assistance and collective catering. The ministry points out that such measures were “applied to displaced students from Ukraine under temporary protection in particular”;
• improved reception systems for disabled students. In 2022-2023, 15M€ were granted to institutions to implement follow-up measures for disabled students, and this budget should be raised again this year.

Actions to improve student life

The “Contribution de Vie Etudiante et de Campus” (CVEC, Student and Campus Life Tax) is “intended to improve the social, health, cultural and sporting welcome and support for students”. It is also intended, as the ministry points out, “to carry out prevention and health initiatives and to finance student association initiatives”. By 2022-2023, the CVEC will have raised 160M€.

All students can benefit from initiatives financed by this contribution, either through their institution or through the CROUS, depending on the initiative and the region. The CVEC has funded almost 5,000 projects across France, including:

• services dedicated to student life in order to finance services designed to improve student living conditions, particularly in terms of reception, with a organisation especially focused on actions to improve the reception of international students;
• projects proposed by students and student associations;
• new infrastructure to support student life.

Special investment in student health

Since the October 2022 reform, university health services have become student health services (SSE). This means that, whether or not they are enrolled at university, and whether they come from public or private institutions, all students now have access to student health services.

The missions of students’ health services have been improved and extended for a more general cover in terms of:

• mental health (more than 49,000 students followed);
• sexual health (contraception, screening of sexually transmitted diseases)
• fight against sexist and sexual violences;
• Addictive behaviour and nutrition.

In the words of the Minister, these are the Government's efforts to “offer every student the freedom to build his or her own individual path”. Retailleau is also aware that “preparing for the future is a task that is sometimes made difficult by the turmoil in purchasing power that affect too many students in France”, and she assured us that she “remains fully committed to continuing to encourage the development and learning of each individual”.