"I haven't done any real shopping for almost two months": the struggle of scholarship students

By fashionlifeshopping 04/12/2022 863 Views

Reading time: 5 min

"Even with 700 euros I struggle, and yet I have the impression of being an upper class among the precarious."In the 18^th arrondissement of Paris, Arthur*, 19 years old , has been waiting for an hour in the line at Restos du Coeur. Like every week, he comes to pick up a packed lunch. What “save twenty to thirty euros” in purchasing power, according to the double degree student in history and Arabic at the Sorbonne. "It helps me especially to have products that are very expensive in stores, like eggs," he says, shopping bag in hand.

Echelon 7 at the Crous, the highest level, the native Breton has had to tighten his belt since his arrival in Paris in August 2020. In addition to his scholarship of 573 euros per month, he receives a supplement from his grandmother and the mother of her best friend. Insufficient, however, to cover essential expenses. “I cannot advance health costs. There, I have to have my wisdom teeth pulled out, but I don't do it, ”says the young man.

In addition to his rent of 403 euros (without housing aid) and food expenses, his monthly budget is quickly spent: twenty euros of books for the university, eighteen euros for the Navigo pass, around ten euros for subscriptions to the media and to a music platform... So much so that his life boils down to counting: "Sometimes I go for a drink and I quantify it in products that I could buy during my shopping. For example, I say to myself, “That's a bottle of soy milk less”. For Arthur, food aid distributions are always a better option than the Crous one-euro meals. "This thing is a chimera, the set is so sparse that I have always paid extras."

A desert in the fridge

At the Clignancourt university restaurant, in the 18th^th arrondissement of Paris, we make the opposite observation. Here, with one euro, you can eat a mixed salad, carbonara pasta and yogurt. Implemented last January for all students, the measure has only been intended for scholarship holders since September 2021.

There were 275,000 throughout France to benefit from it at the start of the school year, according to the National Center for University and School Works. "It helps me a lot. It's five to ten times cheaper than in a bakery,” comments Saïd Hitana, 18, who appreciates his full plate. Surprised that this is not the case for other students, he explains that he "always ate [his] hunger". "I think it depends on the Crous: in that of Port-Royal [V^e arrondissement de Paris, ndlr], there is less choice", nuance his comrade in medical school.

“I didn't make any real shopping for almost two months

Far from university canteens, the fridges remain empty. In that of Lucie*, a 23-year-old film student, food is fighting a duel. A few eggs, potatoes, a half-eaten tray of ravioli, a bottle of expired milk. "I haven't done any real shopping for nearly two months," admits the young woman, who sometimes goes without dinner. To save time, but also “out of laziness”, she does her shopping on her smartphone, without moving from her 16 square meter Crous accommodation located in the V^th arrondissement of the capital.