Returning to class often means shopping and worrying about parents' wallets. But they can take a breather this year: the start of the school year should cost less for families with a budget devoted to school supplies expected to decline according to two separate surveys published this week by Familles de France and the Confédération syndicale des familles. On the other hand, for students the trend remains upward as revealed by a survey by the UNEF student union.
The annual Familles de France barometer measures the 1.27% drop in the cost of supplies for a 6th grade student, while the Confédération Syndicale des Familles points to an overall decline in family budgets of 6.8%. “Such a result was expected given the slowdown in inflation since the start of the year,” underlines Familles de France in a document published Monday.
Can we rejoice at the reduction in this expense? Not totally. The two associations are categorical: the reduction in the cost of supplies does not compensate for several years of increases. In 2023, the latter had increased by 8.73% and the family budget recorded a jump of 11.3%. Thus, the average cost of returning to school “remains much higher than before the health crisis”, tempers Familles de France.
Stationery, star of falling prices Rulers, pencils, pencil cases... Out of 47 references of school items, it is stationery supplies which are at the top of the general inflection in costs according to the Familles de France barometer. Their prices decreased by 12.63%, while that of non-stationery supplies (pens, binders, etc.) increased by 3.77% and that of sporting goods fell slightly by 0.6%.
Like every year, the association points out a difference in prices depending on the brands. For a 6th grade student, supplies cost 209.37 euros in a hypermarket, 216.82 euros in a supermarket and 255.15 euros in a specialized store. “The kit here is 1.19 euros while in supermarkets, it's 7 euros,” declares Fatimata Niang, mother of four children, seen in the school supplies section of a hard-discount supermarket in Paris, scouting good plans for his daughter entering 6th grade.
For the Confederation of Families (CSF), the overall drop in the school budget also results from the purchasing strategies put in place by parents. “Families recover a lot more, are less focused on brands, group together to buy in batches, go to different brands to find the cheapest product, wait for promotions later,” analyzes Annie Giroud, in charge of the education sector at the CSF.
A student budget up 30% since 2017 The CSF qualifies the overall drop in the budget, recorded via a questionnaire sent to 135 families. If a decrease is observed for middle school students (-12.7%) and high school students (-6.8%), the cost increases for primary school students (+ 2.6%).
The main downside comes from the university side. The increase of 2.25% over the year 2024-2025 worries the UNEF. Its secretary general Hania Hamidi regrets a “constant increase in the cost of living (…) extremely sharp for several years”.
A more moderate increase than the 6.47% increase of the previous year, but which carries a heavy toll: the increase to almost 30% of the student budget since 2017. The union points in particular to an increase in university registration fees and the CVEC, a compulsory contribution for students since 2018, and regrets a stagnation in the amounts of student grants, after a re-evaluation deemed insufficient (between 6.2% and 34%) at the start of the 2023 school year.
Unef and the Trade Union Confederation of Families are calling for a universal autonomy allowance for students.
While the summer holidays are not yet over, most students are still looking for accommodation for the 2024-2025 academic year! Depending on the city, the price of studio rental varies from one to three times, according to the site specializing in rental between individuals Locservice.fr.
€550 on average for a studio Like every year, most students are looking for a studio or a T1 apartment (one room) as a priority. For the 2024-2025 school year, the rent for studios is, including charges, around €550 for 23 m² and €566 for one-room apartments of around 30 m².
A price twice as high in Paris As in previous years, in Paris, the most expensive and sought-after city, the average rent for a studio is €907. To find more affordable rents, students must look for accommodation located in the Paris region or, better still, in the provinces.
Across the entire metropolitan area, around 80% of the main student towns saw the average rent increase by more than 1%, and 40% even increased faster than the Rent Reference Index (IRL), i.e. by more than 3.5%.
The parents' deposit, a guarantee for the owners While according to a LocService survey conducted in February 2024, more than half (56%) of landlords say they trust the Visale guarantee, only 8% of students rely on this system, since the vast majority of owners (87 %) prefer to rent to students with a family deposit.
“Education and Knowledge” has determined the mechanism and conditions for refunding the amount Private schools refuse to return the seat reservation fee for withdrawn students “Education and Knowledge” confirmed that the guardian has the right to fully refund the fees for books and school uniforms for the student if they are not used. From the source.
Parents of students said that private schools refuse to return the fees for reserving a seat for the new academic year, despite their request to withdraw the file and transfer to another school, noting that the schools are delaying their response, despite the fact that they sent an email to the school since the beginning of this August, including the failure to continue registration.
The department confirmed that these cases apply to new students and students who registered after the start of the semester. Official holidays and days of absence are calculated from the duration of the week, and the value of one month’s fees should be estimated from the value of the total tuition fees, divided into 10 months.
