The cost of the new school year increased for Rouen students, but less than expected
By Valentin Lebosse
Published on
“We expected it to increase more in relation to inflation,” admits Ibtissam Madivice-president of the Federation of Rouen students (Feder), when revealing the cost of the 2022 school year calculated by the association in the territory of the University of Rouen (Seine-Maritime).
Rent, purchase of furniture, transport costs… The average expenditure per student this year amounts to €2,353. That is an increase of 4.8% compared to 2021 (2,245 euros). By way of comparison, inflation reached 6.1% over one year, according to INSEE estimates published at the end of July.
Transport and supplies on the rise
According to the Feder’s 2022 report, several expenditure items are stable (meals at the university restaurant, leisure, tuition fees, real estate agency fees) or even decreasing (-3% on average on telephone and internet subscriptions), helping to moderate the surge in the cost of back-to-school. However, other costs have increased dramatically.
The biggest increase concerned transportation (161 euros per month, +22%). If the annual student subscription on the Tip network remains at the same price as in 2021 (20.87 euros per month), the costs relating to car travel have increased by 26%, from 111 to 140 euros. The Feder points, unsurprisingly, to soaring prices at the pump.
Other sharply rising expenses: school supplies. Taking into account only the “basic items necessary to start a university year (writing material, backpack, etc.), excluding those specific to each course, the average cost of educational material comes to 305 euros. in 2022 against 263 euros in 2021 (+15.8%).
Monthly consumption expenditure (food, clothing, hygiene, computer) also increased markedly over one year (from 334 to 356 euros, +6.6%). “Menstruating people must add the purchase of periodic protection which we estimate at around 7.5 euros per month or 90 euros per year”, completes the Feder.
The Feder method
“First organization of student representation” on the campuses of Rouen, Elbeuf and Évreux (Eure), the Federation of Rouen Students claims 45,000 represented students and “brings together 22 student associations”.
The association publishes for the fifth consecutive year its indicator of the cost of the start of the academic year. This tool “estimates the expenses incurred by a 20-year-old undergraduate student, not on a scholarship, living outside the family home”, explains the Feder in its 2022 report.
These expenses are divided into two main categories:
– “everyday living expenses” (rent, food, telephony and internet, leisure, transport, clothing, hygiene and maintenance products), “fixed during the different months of the year”;
– the “back-to-school fees” calculated only for the month of September (registration, CVEC, real estate agency fees, subscription to housing insurance, complementary health insurance, purchase of school supplies).
Some of these costs (leisure, telephony, etc.) are national, provided by the Federation of General Student Associations (Fage), of which the Feder is a part. Others, such as rents, are calculated “according to the cities in the territory of the University of Rouen”.
In short, “this indicator represents the average cost for a student at the University of Rouen” but “it can vary from one course to another”, underlines the association.
The average rent reaches 471 euros
As for rents, they are increasing but to a lesser extent. In 2022, staying in Rouen in a studio or a T2 of less than 30 m² – “the most used forms of housing”, according to the Feder – costs on average 471 euros against 458, last year (+2, 95%). Housing insurance increased by 1.39% (73 euros against 72).
Housing is the first item of expenditure in the student portfolio, it alone represents half of a monthly budget.
Finally, the Feder points the increase in Contribution to student and campus life (CVEC), levied by the Crous and paid by all students to finance their social, health, cultural and sporting support: “Created in 2018 for 90 euros, it is indexed to inflation, its price therefore increases again, now costs 95 euros. »
Increasingly heavy financial constraints weigh on students, accentuating inequalities and as a result [réduisant] the chances of success for the poorest of this population.
Several claims
To alleviate the issued cost of the annuity, the student federation several claims. On tuition fees, she calls in particular for the “abolition of additional and illegal registration fees for students in physiotherapy, occupational therapy and nursing”.
The Feder also defended “an end to the threshold effects of scholarships” – “a lot of students don’t get the top level of aid or don’t have a scholarship at all because their parents’ income is outside the steps to within 5 euros”, illustrates Ibtissam Madi. The association would also benefit from a “distribution of scholarships over 12 months”.
To avoid the non-use of social assistance, the Feder offers a “one-stop shop” where students could find all the existing devices and make their requests.
L’AGORAé, a grocery store for students in “food insecurity”
Since April 2021, the Feder and its association network have been running a “social and solidarity” grocery store on the Mont-Saint-Aignan campus. Called AGORAé, it welcomes “around 200 people in order to fight against food insecurity and social isolation”, explains the association in its report.
As a result of an increase in student precariousness or greater visibility of the system, Justine Gremont expects to “have more beneficiaries” at the start of the 2022 school year. “We will not be able to go much further than 250 beneficiaries”, warns however the president of the Feder.
The reduction in the price of the subscription on the Tip network, the free Suaps (University Service of Physical Activities) or the extension of the Pass-sport to non-scholarship students are also part of the demands.
Finally, to follow the evolution of rents and allow “an effective decision price of the actors concerned to improve student housing”, the Feder requests the creation of a “territorial observatory of student housing”.
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