A new academic year marked by purchasing power!

To help students face the impact of inflation and price increase, the French government implemented various budget measures for the new academic year 2022-2023 in addition to the 3.3 billion euros the French government dedicates every year to student life.

Emergency measures

“Specific focus was given to the students in the emergency measures in favour of the purchasing power announced by the Government”. This is how the new “Guide de la rentrée étudiante” Student Guide to the New Academic Year starts for the new academic year. The document was published by the ministry and details all the news to improve the purchasing power. They include:

• freezing of tuition fees and CROUS accommodation rents for the fourth consecutive year;
• payment of exceptional subsidies for the new academic year under specific conditions;
• maintaining the €1 meal scheme for low-income students and maintaining a social rate of €3.30 for all other students.
• an increase in the APL (French subsidies for accommodation) of 3.5% for students who receive it. It should be noted that more than half of the students in France are affected by this measure (1.5 million out of nearly 3 million students).

The Guide also points out that, in order to reduce the cost of student health care, the Government has also abolished the contribution to student social security (a €215 gain in purchasing power) and introduced the CVEC tax (cost of €95 in 2022), which “contributes in particular to access to social assistance”.

Systems to help find accommodation

Recalling that France has deployed “an ambitious programme to renovate and build new student accommodation”, the Student Guide to the New Academic Year lists the ways in which students can find accommodation. Various new schemes have been implemented to help students in their search, particularly in the private sector.

In addition to the accommodation offered by the CROUS, there are, for example, subsidised residences where students can find accommodation. With rents similar to those of the CROUS, these residences offer the possibility of using accommodation subsidies. Such accommodation includes social housing dedicated to students, financed by the French government and local authorities and built by social landlords. These residences offer accommodation of 15 to 25 m², equipped and furnished.

For all students looking for accommodation without using social criteria, the Guide also presents the Lokaviz.fr system, a non-profit student accommodation centre, which allows you to search for accommodation free of charge and to consult the advertisements.

Reinforced social support

Targeted assistance and support measures are also provided, such as customised support for top-level sports students, students with disabilities, student employees, etc.

Similarly, a national hotline for students experiencing serious financial difficulties has been operational since 2020. The number is 0806000278 (open from Monday to Friday, from 9am to 5pm), and it has the “objective of encouraging the use of emergency financial aid which already exists but is still not well known or used”.

In this context, the Student Guide to the New Academic Year details its support to refugee students and beneficiaries of subsidiary protection or temporary protection. For the 2021-2022 academic year, more than 1,900 refugee students, beneficiaries of subsidiary protection or temporary protection, have thus been able to access grants based on social criteria, student accommodation in the CROUS network, specific assistance and collective catering. The Guide points out that such measures were applied in particular in 2022 to displaced students from Ukraine benefiting from temporary protection.

Student number increases again in 2021-2022

Overall, the new academic year 2022 experiments a rise of registrations. An Information Keynote from the French Ministry of Higher Education, which has just been published, shows that, for the thirteenth consecutive year, the number of students in France is increasing. In the academic year 2021-2022, there will be 2.97 million students registered in higher education, a 2.5% increase compared to the previous academic year. This rising trend particularly affects the private sector in general, as well as business schools and engineering training courses. 

This rise of registrations is particularly sharp in business and management schools, with +9% students in 2021. It confirms a general growth trend of 9.6% over the 2016-2020. The appetence for engineering training courses outside university is also confirmed, with a growth of 2.7% in the number of students.