2024 Back-to-school cost
Does the support available really enable students to complete their years of study without compromising their physical or mental health or jeopardising their academic success in order to live decently?
Indicator presentation
3156,55€
That's how much a first-year undergraduate student who is not living with a partner and does not have a grant will have to spend in the first month of his or her student life. For years, the government has dismissed these concerns on the grounds that it is normal for students to live below the poverty line during their studies.
AFGES has been pointing out this precarious situation for several years now, without any concrete action being taken by the Higher Education and Research authorities. Students are suffering from inflation, but do not receive sufficient assistance to meet their needs. Not all of them receive financial support from their parents or guardians. This exacerbates the disparities between students and threatens their physical and mental health.
It is important that the public authorities seize on this alarming situation to combat the precarious situation of students, which is often overlooked.
Since 19 years
AFGES produces its back-to-school cost indicator in the run-up to the start of the new academic year. This indicator highlights the profile of a student who is not a grant holder and who lives outside of the community, which represents the majority of students in higher education. The back-to-school cost indicator is divided into two main types of costs:
- Current living expenses, fixed during the different months of the year : rents and rental charges, food, leisure, transport, telephony and internet, clothing and hygiene and maintenance products, ...
- The specific expenses for the academic year: registration fees, payment of the Contribution de Vie et de Campus (CVEC), agency fees, subscription to a housing insurance, a health supplement and purchase of educational material,...
Because student audiences are however plural and encounter various situations, the indicator also highlights several modular costs according to some cases: purchase of periodic protections and analgesics for menstruating people, transport costs for ultra-marine students coming to study in France, differentiated registration fees for non-EU students,...
In addition to the profile of the non-scholarship student, this indicator also presents the profile of a graduate student at the maximum level (7/7), in the university room and with a high family quotient and with a high family quotient and that of an extra-Community not eligible for grants.
An increase of back-to-school cost
3,04%
In 2024, re-entry-specific fees were increased by 80,43€, or by 4,48%, going from 1 796,54€ to 1 876,97€.
Living expenses increased by 1,01% going from 1 266,76€ to 1 279,58€.
For the academic year 2024-2025, AFGES notes an increase in the cost of the academic year. An increase of 3.04% is estimated, or € 3,156.55 to be paid in September for a student not on a scholarship.
The profiles of the undergraduate student on the maximum (7/7) level, in the university room and with a high family quotient and that of an extra-Community student not eligible for scholarships also had a significant increase of 2.32% respectively, rising to € 2,783.95 in expenses during the return period, and 2.97% with € 5,831.55 in expenses.
In addition to the increase of 2,9% tuition fees going from 170€ to 175€ in bachelor’s degrees and an increase of 3% of the CVEC going from 100€ to 103€ , the deposit of 561€ is an even more precarious expense item for a student in the beginning of the school year.
Among the items of expenditure that have increased most since the fall of 2023, there is housing insurance whose price has risen from 56€ to 86.06€ or 50,10%. In addition, the price of textbooks and teaching materials was increased by 16,69% going from 151,22€ to 176,46€ in 2024.
Focus
Scholarity fees and CVEC
The academic year is always a considerable cost for students, putting them in great financial difficulty. Since 2018, the freeze on university fees has limited some of the financial barriers to pursuing studies.
Unfortunately, this measure was only temporary since for the 2024-2025 academic fees in France will no longer be frozen.
This increase will have a detrimental impact on access to higher education for hundreds of thousands of students who will have to pay 175€ for a licence's degree (+5€), 200€ for a master's degree (+7€) and 391€ for a doctorate (+11€).
Raising university fees cannot be the answer to the lack of funding for higher education and research. These few euros of increase may seem derisory, but for many students they represent skipped meals. Students should not have to choose between eating and studying. AFGES, as well as FAGE, defend an accessible higher education, allowing everyone to be able to emancipate themselves. It is now necessary for the government not to abandon public institutions, as students cannot suffer from the lack of funding allocated to universities.
AFGES is thus advocating the renewal of the previously in force freeze on university fees.
Upon entering higher education, students face a first hurdle: the difficulty of finding affordable housing to continue their studies. Between prices, proximity to the study site, accessibility of public transport, housing conditions and global real estate crisis, there are many challenges. To overcome them, students must cut their budgets and forego essential expenses.
Indeed, the autumn of 2024 was marked by an increase of 2.8% in rents which are at 561€ on average now, making housing the first expenditure item of the student population. However, access to housing is an important stage in the life of a young student, often constituting a necessary condition for pursuing academic training, and representing a strong social marker and sometimes a condition for emancipation.
Since Strasbourg is in a tight zone, it’s already difficult to find accommodation for a new student and an average rent of 561€ is not affordable for everyone.
In order to improve the situation of students, AFGES is campaigning for the revaluation of the amount of APLs and the increase of the lump sum expenses, the elimination of the month of absence and the resumption of prompt payment of APLs in case of a move, to take into account the specific pace of students and their high inter-regional mobility and for access to the VISALE guarantee to all students, ensuring its respect and recognition by all donors.
The university residences of Crous also allow students to benefit from affordable rents, however today, CROUS only offers 1 accommodation on a national scale for more than 17 students, including 1 housing for 4 scholarship students.
This is far too little, since only 55% of student applications result in an effective allocation of CROUS housing. While 37% of students who do not have would like to have a CROUS housing, they are forced to find alternative housing solutions, often at much higher rates.
Claims
AFGES advocates for:
- CROUS meals at 1 € for everyone on student catering sites.
- Access to catering at a social price of €3.30 and €1 on all campuses.
- The development of agreements to ensure access to social catering on all campuses
, even delocated ones - Allow students to benefit from the APL for 2 accommodation simultaneously, especially during internship and alternance situations.
- Access to the full range of student life services for all students, including on balance sites and away from major campuses.
- The installation of free sports facilities and infrastructures near each CROUS residence.
- A European culture pass for all young people aged 15 to 30 and therefore for all students.
- The abolition of the maximum 10% exemption from registration fees for higher education institutions.
- The elimination of differentiated fees for non-EU students, thus realigning them with national registration fees
- The extension of the automatic exemption from registration fees granted to students who are refugees and beneficiaries of subsidiary protection to all persons in exile.
- Access to scholarships on social criteria as soon as non-EU students arrive in France.
- The implementation of a Student at Risk Plan, which allows to welcome students in danger in their country.
- Free public transport for all students.
Scholarship grants reform
In Strasbourg, 50% of students interviewed do not have the means to buy fresh fruits and vegetables every week, while according to OVE 2023, 59% of the students who work consider their work essential for living.
In 2022-2023, the share of scholarship holders is 36.3%, down 1.4 percentage points from the previous year, and the lowest share in 10 years. The constant increase in the precariousness and wage earners suffered to provide for their needs is proof that the current system of social assistance is inadequate to the current student reality.
In March 2023, the Minister of Higher Education and Research, Sylvie Retailleau, announced a revaluation of the amount of scholarships based on social criteria as well as an increase in the allocation ceilings, allowing access to more students. Since these parametric measures are far from being sufficient, a second part of the reform has been announced and is essential for 2025. In order to guarantee a more fair and accessible higher education for all, the AFGES and the FAGE call for a profound and equitable reform of the system of social assistance to students.
To respond to the social emergency, we advocate for :
- Expansion of the number of scholarship recipients, with a direct target of 1 million students
- The indexation of the ceilings for access to exchanges on the SMIC and their amount on inflation.
- Territorialization through the implementation of a lump sum, primarily in Île-de-France.
- The opening of scholarships on social criteria to students from outside the Community and unfunded doctoral students.
- The transfer of skills from health and social training grants in the regions to the CROUS.
- The establishment of a one-stop shop for student social assistance in the form of the Dossier Social Etudiant.
To enable emancipation, a long-term scholarship reform:
- Defamilialisation: for a real appreciation of the student’s situation.
The system of social assistance for students must move from a familiar logic to a functioning based on national solidarity, based on a basic compensatory grant. Thus, it is the responsibility of the state to pay the difference between the social benefits received and the poverty line. We must be considered as a full citizen, existing outside his family home. It is therefore necessary to end the attachment to parents from the moment of entry into higher education and to remove the half tax share in order to redistribute the benefits.
- Universalisation: for a scholarship accessible to all
The state must guarantee that each student lives above the poverty line, that is to say with resources at least greater than 50% of the median income.
- Territorialisation
Social assistance to students must be territorialized in order to adapt to the needs of each individual. In areas defined as tensile areas, where the cost of living is well above the national average, a supplement to the basic amount must be provided.
What AFGES does on a day-to-day basis
A concrete action of AFGES on a daily basis is the AGORAé project. This is a device launched more than a decade ago by FAGE and there are now 41 AGORAé throughout France.
In Strasbourg, AFGES has two AGORAé, which are social grocery stores, located in Gallia and Esplanade. AFGES also has an AGORA'truck, a mobile grocery store that allows students from different far campuses to benefit from advantageous prices.
AGORAé provide assistance, mainly food, to students in financial difficulties. In self-service areas, a variety of quality products such as food, hygiene, maintenance and school supplies are available to the beneficiaries at reduced prices (up to 90% compared to normal prices).
Thanks to this aid, beneficiaries can concentrate fully on the success of their studies without having to resort to involuntary salaried work.
AGORAé are also places where students can find information, advice or simply a bit of conviviality. Prevention initiatives, awareness-raising campaigns on healthy eating and responsible consumption, and cultural activities are all organized here. The centers also offer a “second-hand” section, with clothing, household appliances and crockery at reduced prices for all.
For 7 years now, AFGES has been setting up a temporary housing arrangement. This arrangement, which takes place every year at the beginning of university, allows students who cannot find any accommodation and risk having no roof over their heads to stay in hostels for 11 renewable days. In addition to housing students in need, AFGES supports them in their search for accommodation and other issues that may affect them.
This device tends to overcome the current problems of real estate in Strasbourg which is currently a stressed area where housing supply is lower than demand. This tension causes private rents to increase enormously, which prevents many students from being able to find housing in front of a rental park of the CROUS that is much too quickly saturated because it gives too few available housing.
Methodology
You can find the methodology we used to calculate the cost of the back-to-school by downloading the available document by clicking on the button below! (only available in French for now)
