The guide for the start of academic year 2021

“An unprecedented investment at the service of the social follow-up of students”. Those were the words chosen by the ministry to present its guide “confirming its determined commitment in favour of student life”. Point by point, this new guide for the start of academic year 2021 details the progresses planned this year in terms of student life conditions improvement: the freezing of registration fees, actions for handicapped students, student jobs, exceptional aids, support to find a housing, university restaurants with social price, improvement of student life, creation of mobile vaccination teams, etc.

10,000 euros spent annually by the government for a student

In France, the government covers the remainder of the real cost of students’ scholarship, excluding the cost incurred by the student concerned. The Ministry indeed specified that the average government spending for student education is “10,000 euros per year throughout all university levels.

Faced with the health crisis, the French government has decided to “freeze university registration fees and maintain them at the level of the start of the previous academic year” for the second consecutive year.

Exceptional aids to face the health crisis

This year, many actions adapt to the health crisis to mitigate its effects. As early as late 2020, the French minister for higher education had announced “a steep increase of CROUS emergency aid funds compared with the allocation from before the crisis, aimed at students, whether scholarship holders or not”.

This statement was supported by simplification measures to obtain exceptional aids. To this end, a national call number for students facing serious financial difficulties was implemented. The objective of this call number (0 806 000 278) is to foster the use of emergency financial aids already available but, according to the guide for the start of academic year “are still too little understood and used”.

Initiatives to foster better access to accommodation

Accommodation is still a delicate issue for many students. Services of the ministry thus listed in its Guide solutions already in place to facilitate access to accommodation.

The guide explains that the French government “deployed an ambitious program of rehabilitation and construction of new student accommodations”. In the meantime, in addition to accommodation made available by the CROUS, “many schemes were also implemented to help students in their search for accommodation in the private sector”, such as: 

• The Visale scheme, a rental deposit system open to students, including international students, that allow them to benefit from a rental deposit for any type of housing free of charge;
• The Lokaviz platform, hub of non-commercial student accommodations helping you to search and view ads free of charge.

University restaurants adapted to students’ needs

The “Guide for the start of academic year” specifies that catering has changed to “match the new consumption trends of students, by offering quality catering onsite or as take away”. Currently, with 750 restauration centres in university cities, 2.3 million students (out of 2.8 million) “have the opportunity to access a restauration site in their close vicinity”.

In addition, “all students holding a scholarship based on social requirements and students not holders of a scholarship justifying serious financial difficulties confirmed by CROUS social services will continue to benefit from a full meal in universities at 1 euro”, a system implemented during the full force of the health crisis. The other students will benefit from a meal at the solidarity price of 3.30€.

Additional action for disabled students

Nearly 7.5 million euros are dedicated each year to measures aimed at better helping disabled students in their studies. The Ministry said that all universities are now “equipped with a disability structure dedicated to the reception and support of disabled students throughout their university study plan”.

Actions include this year: new accessibility measures planned for each institution (support to note taking, opportunities to adapt schedule and exams), and an increased number of doctoral contracts reserved to disabled students.

Vaccination to ensure a start of academic year 100% onsite

According to the data provided by Santé Publique France, and used in this Guide, 77% of 18-24 years old received at least their first vaccine shot (15 August 2021). However, the Ministry specifies that “vaccination is the key to efficiently fight Covid-19 and ensure a start of academic year 100% onsite”.

To reach this objective, several action types are planned, such as:

• The deployment of “Vaccination tents” on campuses, during the first weeks of the academic year, to allow students who wish it to get a vaccine shot;
• Tests and autotests will continue to be at the students’ disposal, including in university care centres to facilitate screening and prevention.