At the University of Corsica in Corte, all students, scholarship holders or not, will be able to benefit from this return to two free meals a day in university restaurants, the Crous told AFP, which ensures that it is “a first in France “.
“For this start of the school year, the great novelty which is a first in France since out of the 26 Crous, we are the only one to have this possibility thanks to a partnership with the Collectivity of Corsica, it is full free admission for scholarship holders and non-scholarship holders alike. -boursiers” in the university restaurants of Corte, Jean-Felix Pasqualini, director of student life at the Regional Center for University and School Works (Crous) in Corsica, told AFP.
On presentation of proof of their status, “students can have lunch and dinner for free in the catering facilities. It’s the student social meal, that is to say starter-main course-dessert, all that is snacking and other, there is no free, “he said.
Fight against student precariousness
“The main objective is to fight against student precariousness. It is inconceivable that we have young people who only have one meal a day, as we too often hear in the media”, he argued, wanting to “do the maximum to ensure them at least that well-being: having acceptable living conditions and being able to study in complete serenity, with a full stomach”.
The Crous thus plans to serve “80,000 free annual meals for students between September 5, 2022 and July 31, 2023. We are counting on 600-700 meals at lunchtime and around 150 in the evening”, he detailed. To finance this measure, the CDC granted funding of “more than 200,000 euros”.
The institution had already taken a similar measure during the Covid crisis: “during the 2021-2022 academic year, there was complete free meals for scholarship students in university catering structures”, recalled Pasqualini.
“The scholarship holder’s meal was set by a government measure at one euro to take into account the Covid crisis and the student precariousness that had resulted from it, and the CDC had given us a boost by financing the rest payable by the scholarship holder, the famous 1 euro which led to total free access for scholarship holders,” he explained. “For non-scholarship holders, the price of the meal being set at 3.3 euros, the CDC topped up one euro, which reduced the meal to 2.3 euros”