All expenditure items are increasing, with the exception of transport, according to the National Union of Students of France.
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Inflation primarily affects the most precarious and the youngest, according to the 18th survey on the cost of living, carried out by the National Union of Students of France (UNEF), published Monday, August 15. According to the student organization, in 2022, “the cost of student living increases by another 6.47%”, while overall inflation is 6.1%. In concrete terms, student spending is up by 428 euros per year, or 35 euros per month.
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According to Unef, all expenditure items are increasing with the exception of transport. Starting with rents: they represent more than half of the student budget and are up 1.37%. In addition, the organization anticipates additional tension on the housing market at the start of the 2022 school year. “All higher education establishments should once again provide all face-to-face courses and return to normal operation, which increases student mobility and therefore requests for accommodation”, explains the student union. In particular because of the return of foreign students, which may have been slowed down by the measures linked to the pandemic.
The rise in food prices is also being felt, 15% over one year for pasta and 23% for coffee. To eat, the students will have to pay at the start of the next school year between 10 and 14 euros more each month, calculates the Unef, which estimates that it becomes “more and more complicated for a student to eat properly”.
Only transport is an exception to this overall increase in the cost of living for students. Their cost is stagnating, due to reduced student fares introduced recently by several major cities. But also thanks to the development of soft mobility, which is less expensive. The Unef, on the other hand, points to the widening of inequalities between students in the big cities: the cost of transport there would fall by 2.48% for scholarship students, against an increase of 0.4% for the others.