Direction Rennes to meet Guillemette, 20, general secretary of the Federation Syndicale Etudiante (FSE) of the city. This year, she had to put her studies on hiatus for fear of losing her scholarship. There is no more room in the license she wanted to do and as Guillemette has already repeated her first year because of the Covid-19 and the distance courses, she does not want to take the risk of embarking on a course that does not please him. When you are a scholarship student, you can lose your scholarship if you repeat more than twice.
“I had to make the choice not to study this year. If I miss my last license 1, I could never have a scholarship again in my life“, explains Guillemette, level 3 scholarship holder who had started studying law. For lack of a place in educational sciences, the university offered her as a fallback solution: a license in Russian, Breton or Chinese, a branch which does not correspond at all to her professional project. She prefers to wait and retry the desired license next year. “I have to make a choice between having the license that I like or stop studying“, adds the student. No study this year, therefore no scholarship for Guillemette who lives thanks to the money earned during the summer.
In September 2020, Guillemette decided to join the FSE Rennes student union, of which she is today the general secretary. “They were present at my college and I was convinced by what they were telling me. I decided to participate in their meetings and their actions“, says Guillemette who remembers having”knocked on the door of a student who had not eaten for three days“, during confinement.
Engaging with students via the FSE was also a bulwark against the loneliness that Guillemette experienced during the health crisis. “This is what helped me the most during confinement“, she confides.
“I needed an escape. I was confined to a 9m². I really felt very lonely.”
Guillemette, 20 years oldto franceinfo
Guillemette asks for more resources for the university of tomorrow. “In Rennes 2, there is a license that almost did not reopen“, she said, referring to the teachers at Staps who had blocked the resumption of classes to protest against the working conditions.”We have the right to have decent study conditions“, claims Guillemette who asks for a reassessment of the scholarships.”I was at the Crous so it’s okay I had 244 euros in rent but with 325 euros in scholarship, what do I do with my month? “, she asks.”I had 80 euros left. What do we do with this? It’s really utopian to think that you can buy food with 80 euros“, regrets Guillemette who adds:”We have books to buy, there is a telephone, etc.“.
At 20, Guillemette has already voted for municipal and regional elections where she chose La France insoumise “because it was the program that I liked the most“, she says. “I think I’ll do the same for the presidential elections. If things don’t move, it will be Mélenchon but I’m waiting“, she said, adding:”I think it’s going to be a little bit sporty period. We’ll see.“