Grants for Return to School

With the new school year about to start, it is still not too late to benefit from school grants that are available. Whilst school education is France is ostensibly ‘free’, parents are required to meet the cost of pens, pencils, stationery, and even certain course books. Indeed, the sale of school stationery is a major commercial event each August and September, with supermarket shelves positively brimming with an endless variety of materials to entice families into the store. Parents also need to buy sports gear, pay for school insurance, school lunches, photos, and meet the costs of extra curricula activities and trips. In order to help with some of these costs, there are a range of grants available, the most notable of which is the Return to School Grant – the Allocation Rentrée Scolaire (ARS). The amount of the grant is €272, a figure that is indexed linked. It is normally paid before the start of each school year, but late applications are equally valid. Although access to the grant is means tested, the test of resources is a generous one, and resident expat families have an entitlement to the grant. Whilst most parental groups consider the grant adequate to meet the needs of children attending primary schoool, there is concern that it falls well short of what is required in later years. The French Families Association (CSF) recently estimated the cost of la rentree each year for a primary school child was around €127, but for a student at lycée it was upwards of €500. One of the reasons for the high cost at lycée is because pupils are expected to buy many of their own course books. There are additional grants available for lycée pupils, but the test of resources is much tougher, and the level of the grants rather derisory. You can read more about school education grants in our Guide to School Education in France.