On this last day of November 2022, in Saint-Denis, in Seine-Saint-Denis, a queue stretches out at the foot of a building in the autumn night. Kenza, a history student at Paris-Saclay, comes for the second time. Wrapped in a coat, she stamps the ground with one foot and then the other to keep warm. “I don’t have a job, so I don’t have my income. My family just pays me the rent. So I come to the Linkee distribution point, two or three times a week. This makes me two, three meals. For the other meals I look for other associations. »
Arrived from Algeria in September 2022, she lives in Saint-Denis, but studies in Saclay. “Transport also has a cost, adds the young 24-year-old woman,
the time I spend between accommodation and university and finding something to eat in the evening is time I don’t take to study. Usually, I catch up on my work on the weekends. »
The decision to leave his country and come to France was not an easy one. “In Algeria I had no problems feeding myself as I lived with my parents. I knew it wouldn’t be easy, but I preferred to come here for my studies. In my country I have little chance of finding work as a historian of antiquity. »
Less than €50 a month to live on
Student budgets are increasingly tight. According to
a study published by the Linkee association
published in October 2022 and conducted with 3769 students, 63.79% of whom live on just 50 euros a month, after paying their bills.
