The scene repeats itself tirelessly every two weeks. Every other Wednesday, several hundred students hang around, tote bags in hand, in front of the entrance to the Ereve building at Rennes-2 University. The long queue that stretches for tens of meters on the Villejean campus is impressive. Above all, it testifies to the precariousness in which many students are plunged today, forced to resort to food distribution to fill their fridge.
“I have a very tight budget and past the middle of the month, I’m already ric-rac to do my shopping,” testifies Alex, 21, who is waiting for his turn while reading a book. Like him, many young people now rely on the help provided by the Union Pirate, the majority union on campus, to eat every day. Fueled by donations from the Food Bank and individuals, this solidarity operation was launched in February 2021 in the midst of a health crisis to help students, hard hit by the pandemic.
“All our friends are in the same boat”
Almost two years later, the Covid has been somewhat forgotten. But the food distribution is still in place. And it even reaches more and more beneficiaries, to the chagrin of its organizers. “There were around 200 or 300 people during the Covid but the number doubled with inflation, assures Gwénolé Bourrée, elected student to the Rennes-2 training and university life commission and member of the Union Pirate . We have plenty of students who didn’t dare to come before and who now have no choice, a sign that student precariousness has become commonplace. »
Sitting on a bench after collecting a few cans of canned goods, pasta and cakes, Elisa and Chiara, sociology students, talk about their difficulties in eating as prices explode at the checkout. “I no longer have the same food as before because everything is more expensive”, assures Chiara, who has resolved since the start of the school year to seek free help from the Pirate Union, accessible without conditions of resources. “We are a little ashamed at first but not anymore when we see that all our friends are in the same boat,” she says. We are going to the food distribution between friends suddenly. »
The meals served at the Crous questioned
A scholarship holder, the young woman also regularly attends the Crous to be able to benefit from a one-euro meal. But since the start of the school year, the institution has been in the midst of a storm in the region, accused of having reduced the portions of the meals served in its restaurants and of having reduced its food offer. A situation denounced by Lola Blandin-Bourgeon, president of the Federation of Associations of Upper Brittany (FAHB). “We do not understand these decisions which further weaken the living conditions of students in an already tense context,” she says.
The same goes for the Pirate Union, which regularly denounces, with supporting photos, the deterioration in the quantity and quality of meals served in Rennes university restaurants, once renowned for their service. In a press release issued in September, the management of the Crous explained that production costs had “sharply increased to reach nearly eight euros per meal” and regretted “the supply difficulties or the increases in the price of foodstuffs. »