2023-12-11 22:28:34
Struggling to finance his studies, Alex knows: this 25-year-old student worked nights at Amazon during his L1 history, taking two years to complete it. He then took a break to work in a factory and scrape together enough to pay for his degree.
When the opportunity to go for a master’s degree presented itself, he decided to borrow 15,000 euros from Crédit Mutuel, thinking he could finance his modest student lifestyle in the Grand Est for two years, or even a little longer. to find work.
The student loan has the specificity of not being linked to a particular expense, thus making it possible to pay registration or everyday life costs. With a preferential rate – but which differs depending on the banks and the student’s profile – it is often repaid deferred, at the end of studies.
“I had planned to spend 500 euros per month maximum, except that with inflation, it is absolutely impossible,” confides the scholarship student, whose parents cannot help. “For 4 or 5 months, with the price of groceries, electricity, everything, I have gone to 600 or even 700 euros per month,” he explains, although not spending “thousands and cents” .
“Debt aversion”
Technically open to any major registered in higher education, this credit “concerns less than 10% of students in France, which is relatively low compared to other countries”, explained to AFP Sébastien Grobon, economist attached to the Pantheon Sorbonne University.
The contrast is strong with the United States where more than half are affected, or even Germany and Sweden. France presents a “greater aversion to student debt”, specifies the specialist in socio-economic inequalities in education, in particular because of “the tradition of low registration fees and scholarships”.
This is why the student loan “initially concerned more exceptional and more expensive training”, “in particular the private Grandes Écoles” and the “business schools”, explains the researcher. These training courses also promise “high salaries, which will facilitate reimbursement”.
But recently, “more and more” young people who study in the public sector like Alex find themselves forced to contract one, says Éléonore Schmitt, of the union L’Union universitaire.
Despite much lower tuition fees, they have to borrow to finance their daily lives, especially since “the explosion of student precariousness” linked to Covid, she explains.
Increase in amounts borrowed
Quantifying student debt in France is very difficult. No sector organization interviewed by AFP (FBF, Banque de France, ASF, ACPR) has precise data on the number and outstanding student loans.
In July 2021, a fact-finding mission from the Senate regretted that no structure was responsible for “aggregating this data on a national scale”, speaking of a “poorly understood phenomenon” which “deserves to be better documented”.
The banks are very discreet, mainly communicating the figures for student loans guaranteed by the State, a system which allows those under 28 to borrow up to 20,000 euros without a deposit or guarantor, since this is the Public investment bank (Bpifrance) which plays this role.
Only BPCE was completely transparent with the AFP, indicating that it had noted “very strong dynamism in student credit” in its Banques Populaires and Caisses d’Epargnees in 2022, with a jump in the number of loans (70,800, + 9.5%) and amounts borrowed (226 million euros for the Banques Populaires, + 21%, and 985 million euros for the entire group, as specified on Monday by BPCE).
Questioned by AFP, BNP Paribas and Société Générale indicated that they had noted in 2022 “a slight drop in the number of student loans”. However, “the total amount granted has increased”, specifies Société Générale.
The increase in borrowed amounts is not solely due to the increase in the cost of daily living. It is also explained by the increase in already high registration fees for private schools, a favorite hunting ground for banks.
“Many students had taken out loans when they entered the school which no longer made it possible to cover the amount requested by the establishment”
At Sciences-po, where five banks are setting up their stand during the integration period, tuition fees – determined according to parents’ income (up to 19,670 euros/year) – have all increased by 7.5% this year. year, due to inflation.
“Many students had taken out loans when they entered the school which no longer made it possible to cover the amount requested by the establishment,” denounces Inès Fontenelle, elected student.
This is the case of Geoffroy Brocart: the 21-year-old student had calculated that 35,000 euros would allow him to pay the registration fees for his last three years of studies (L3 and master), but it was “obviously in 2020 conditions, with still very little inflation.”
From now on, “I think I will be missing between 5,000 and 10,000 euros to finish”, partly because of inflation, indicates the master’s student in urban planning, “but it will perhaps be more” if the administration makes further increases.
However, Geoffroy Brocart considers himself “very privileged”: “my parents will help me”, “I am lucky not to have to take out another loan”.
Many students must apply for an extension, which can take the form of a new student loan or a normal consumer loan, the rates of which are very high.
” Vicious circle “
Although BNP Paribas has not yet observed “a significant increase” in these requests, this year it has nevertheless opened the possibility of “taking out an additional student loan”, she clarified.
“It’s a bit of a vicious circle: we no longer have enough money and on top of that we will have to borrow at less advantageous rates. Not all students can handle that,” warns Geoffroy Brocart.
In fact, the interest rates on student loans have increased in a year and a half from less than 1% on average to more than 2%, indicated Maël Bernier, spokesperson for Meilleurtaux brokers.
A level certainly much more advantageous than the current rates of other credits but synonymous with a repayment which remains heavy to assume for many young workers starting their professional life.
Especially since not all students are equal when it comes to loan conditions: banks generally choose to lend at better rates to students from major schools, who are less likely to default.
Those who cannot benefit from parental help or an additional loan will have to tighten their belts by making food and care “budget adjustment variables”, deplores the student association Fage. Or work in parallel, “beyond 12 hours/week and at the risk of academic success”.
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