One in five French students doesn’t have enough to eat – survey

Almost a fifth of French students do not have enough to eat, according to a survey conducted by the Federation of General Student Associations (Fage).

More than 7,500 students took part in the survey, with its findings published by the news network Franceinfo on 10 January. Recipients of government scholarships were the most likely to report food insecurity, with 28 per cent saying they did not have enough to eat compared with 16 per cent among non-recipients.

Scholarship students, as well as non-scholarship students able to demonstrate financial difficulty, are entitled to €1 (86p) meals in restaurants run by Crous, the regional organisation that provides student aid and housing. Those not entitled to €1 meals are charged €3.30; of these, almost a fifth said they did not eat at university restaurants because of the price. Almost half of the survey respondents said they could not afford to buy fresh fruits and vegetables every week.

“Falling asleep, studying on an empty stomach – these are not conditions for studying,” said Sarah Biche, Fage’s vice-president of social affairs, during an appearance on French radio.

More than two-fifths of the students surveyed said they needed to work to support themselves during their studies, with 35 per cent working more than 12 hours a week.

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Posting on the social media network X, formerly known as Twitter, Fage president Maëlle Nizan called the survey results “unacceptable”, writing, “We no longer accept that student poverty is considered normal.”

In September, Fage published a Barometer of Student Precariousness after surveying student customers of their subsidised Agoraé grocery stores. Of 440 respondents, almost 79 per cent said they had reduced spending on food and basic necessities because of inflation, while more than 62 per cent said they regularly skipped at least one meal per week.

The same month, 14 university presidents published an op-ed in Le Monde, calling for all students to receive an education allowance. The current scholarship system, the university leaders wrote, was “not enough to curb student poverty or allow access to higher education for the greatest number of people”.

In response, higher education and research minister Sylvie Retailleau told Franceinfo that she did not think a universal study allowance was “the most effective solution” to student precarity. Professor Retailleau pointed to new measures announced in March 2023, which increased scholarships by €37 a month and extended eligibility to 35,000 more students.

emily.dixon@timeshighereducation.com