La Rentrée - The cost of back to school

Written by Jill Penton-Browne

The Cost Of a Free Education...
Jill Penton-Browne looks at kitting out kids for the new school year.

In a country like France education is a right and is, it’s often supposed, provided “free” by the state. Well, as any parent will tell you, that’s not quite true. The calm of the summer vacation period is, for many, shadowed by the prospect of the enforced shopping spree that has to precede the return to the classroom in September. There’s not just the hassle — take a peek into any stationery store around that time and you’ll get the picture — but also the expense. According to one parents’ organisation, last year the cost of kitting out a beginning pupil in the primary school was a 100 euros, that for a child entering the collège about twice as much and the outlay for a senior lycée pupil anything from 750 euros and upwards.

“At the supermarket and mall… a bigger choice and lower prices”
If you’ve not got kids in a French school then you have to know this: parents are expected to provide a lot of the things a pupil needs — pens and pencils, paper and exercise books, files and folders, rulers and compasses. And teachers are often pretty fussy about what their pupils turn up with. As to textbooks, these have to be bought in the primary school and the collège; our region (PACA) is, happily, one of several where in the lycée books are provided free. But the list of requirements is by no means finished. French schoolkids have to carry about a heavy load of learning materials — they don’t have individual desks, as in Britain, or often even lockers, U.S.-style. So the purchase of a schoolbag is a critical step. Make sure it’s capacious, lightweight, and easy to carry. Then there are other necessities — tracksuits, trainers and the like. Parents soon discover that pressure comes not only from the teachers, with their peremptory lists, but also from the kids themselves. Give young Steve an unbranded bag, however serviceable, and he’ll tell you he wants a PUMA bag like the one flashed around the classroom by his best mate Jean-Yves. It’s cool to have smart gear — but, for parents, it costs.

So what useful advice can a veteran mum give? To start with, do as much pre-rentrée shopping as you can at the supermarket or mall. There you get a bigger choice and lower prices. Go to a specialist stationer’s or sportswear shop, for example, and you may get better quality on some items — but you’ll pay more. That unbranded bag might not impress Steve’s pals but it’ll cost you 50 per cent less than the PUMA product and it’ll last the year just as well. And don’t turn your nose up immediately at the idea of buying second hand (even if your kids don’t look enthusiastic). In some schools the PTA equivalent organises sales of used books and equipment. Ask about it.

“Sources of aid”
Then, of course, you may qualify — as 3.2 million families do — for the allocation rentrée scolaire which is paid automatically to many of those receiving child allowance (allocation familiale) in respect of pupils aged 6 to 18. This year it’s set at 272.52 euros credited to your bank account in late August. If you’ve got really serious financial difficulties it’s worth talking to the head of the school or to the social services department at your mairie who will know of other sources of aid (covering such things as transport and canteen costs, for example). You really have to swallow your pride. It’s in the best of causes, after all.

For information on the allocation rentrée scolaire and other assistance to families consult www.caf.fr.

The Riviera Reporter Issue 98: Aug/Sept 2003

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