Scholarships awarded on social criteria to students will increase by 4% in accordance with the recent purchasing power law, but the exceptional aid of 100 euros may no longer concern them. With the one-euro meal, here is what aid students can claim.
As part of the purchasing power law, student grants awarded on social criteria are indeed affected by the 4% revaluation allocated to social benefits. The last two years, the scholarships had only been increased by 1%. This new increase is effective for all scholarship holders, whatever their level (from 0 bis to 7). While young people represent a vulnerable population, several aids have been announced, such as the renewal of meals at one euro, the upgrading of APL for 800,000 young people or even the freezing of university registration fees. As for the exceptional bonus of 100 euros, it was rejected by the Senate for the sole purpose of poor workers. Thus, students should no longer be included in its eligibility criteria.
Exclusion of students from the exceptional aid of 100 euros?
To fight against generalized inflation, the government had planned at the end of last July, with the purchasing power law, the payment of a exceptional bonus of 100 euros for recipients of social minima. The beneficiaries of the APL, RSA or AAH (allowance for disabled adults) and scholarship students were thus concerned. However, on the night of August 2 to 3, 2022, right-wing senators validated an amendment to change the allocation criteria, which would now only have taken into account workers benefiting from the activity bonus. The latter could then receive no longer 100 but 150 euros, and if young employees over the age of 18 would have been eligible for this aid, the students could not have claimed it. An exclusion which provoked the anger of student associations, such as Fage, which then strongly encouraged parliamentarians to reconsider this decision. In fact, late in the evening of August 3, an agreement was reached by the joint joint committee, and student aid is back in the news.
Confirmation by press release from the Senate on August 4, 2022:
Revaluation of scholarships to 4%
From the start of the school year, scholarships could be increased by 4% on the basis of social criteria, offers the government. A measure that goes hand in hand with the increase in other social benefits such as the RSA or family allowances. The student will then have no action to take, since the amount will be automatically reassessed at the time of the first payment of the grant in question, between the end of August and the beginning of September 2022.
Meals at one euro
Scholarship students and students in a precarious situation will be able to benefit from meals at one euro, as was the case during the Covid-19 health crisis. “Since 2020, nearly 32 million meals have been served for one euro to students on scholarships or identified as precarious by the Crous” specifies the government.
An exceptional aid of 100 euros
A check in the amount of 100 euros may be granted to students who receive a grant based on social criteria, but also to those who benefit from Crous assistance, to APL recipients living outside their parents’ home. Finally, the government recalls that nearly 800,000 young people will benefit from a revaluation of the APL, without forgetting the freezing of university registration fees.