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Bourse & CAF for university students


Nickd
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We have two English youngsters who have come through Lycée, College and Primary School in France and are now studying at university. They are both receiving CAF (as they don't live at home with us) and Bourse assistance as we are all resident in France.

My wife and I are now thinking it is time to return to the UK, but are wondering what effect this might have on the status of our children and their eligibility for support if I no longer make a French tax declaration.

Can anyone advise on whether CAF and Bourse payments would still be available to our children if I am no longer a resident tax-payer in France?

Best wishes,

Nick
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So it is the APL? the Allocation Logement, not one of the other allowances.

The official page for that says:

L'APL peut être attribuée à toute personne :

  • quelle que soit sa situation familiale, avec ou sans personne à charge,

  • quelle que soit sa nationalité, sous réserve de justifier être en

    situation régulière par la production d'un titre de séjour pour les

    personnes étrangères, ou qui remplissent les conditions exigées pour

    résider régulièrement en France s'agissant des ressortissants de

    l'espace économique européen (EEE),

  • quelle que soit sa situation professionnelle.

Aucune condition d'âge minimum n'est exigée

http://vosdroits.service-public.fr/particuliers/F12006.xhtml

For some other allowances (RSA for example) there is a minimum age.

On the other hand I am not sure about how they would justify having enough income to live in France independently, and how they would be covered for health if they don't come under your cover.

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"]I thought that students had to pay something towards their health care anyway, if this is so, wouldn't they be covered?????"

Our eldest is 19, at CPGE He is in the LMDE (Sante des Etudiants) for health cover and is still under us for the CMU (we pay the charges) and the CA top up insurance which we pay. The only thing he pays for is the visits to the Doctor/Medcines etc which he then gets the usual percentage back. He is in "rooms" so does not claim for accommodation, but he gets a "Bourse", which is based on the distance from us to the Lycée and our revenue index off the French tax form.
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Thank you to everyone for comments so far.

My children have same health cover arrangements as mentioned by you here. This is one of the concerns I have about leaving the French system myself: if I am no longer in the CMU and have no mutuelle cover, I presume my children will need to pay something into LMDE and have their own mutuelle top-up cover.

However my main concern is whether they can still get CAF & Bourse without me being in the French system and having taxed status in France. Does anyone have an answer on this one?

Nick

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Hello again,

The link and the extract quoted certainly answer the question with regards to CAF allowances for accommodation, but there is no mention of bourse provision. covering living and study expenses.

So it does appear that my children would be able to get hep with accommodation costs, but I'm still wondering whether they would be eligible for a bourse without having my being a taxed French resident. Logically it would seem reasonable for this to be the case, but I would like to get chapter and verse on this before jeopardising their studies in any way.

Best wishes,

Nick
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Des dispositions particulières sont prévues :

  • pour les parents isolés,

  • en cas de séparation ou de divorce, de remariage ou d'union libre des parents,

  • lorsque les parents résident et/ou travaillent à l'étranger

from http://vosdroits.service-public.fr/particuliers/F12214.xhtml

It should be possible to do a simulation here:

http://www.cnous.fr/_vie_264.htm

to see

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I think you are not going to get a definitive answer from anyone who has children in the system here as they are either still in France or have all gone back to the UK. In all the applications made for further education, the onus fell on our son to make the applications, fill in all the forms and provide the relevant information. When there was a difficulty with the inital accommodation, it was down to him to sort it out, not us. To this end, I suggest your children contact CROUS direct either by phone or go to the nearest office. The French are not very good at dealing with things that are out of their comfort zone (they looked in horror at a recent meeting here when an 18 year old wanted to take a gap year). IMO you will need a written agreement if you want to go back to the UK. In our sons case, we have to make the application for the bourse on a yearly basis, so they will need chapter and verse if you are not even going to be in France next year. The other consideration is their nationality. Do the current rules apply to only to children of any nationality living with their parents in France or French students? If you are not here, will they then be considered as foreign students? Not trying to be argumentative, but what ever anyone says here, it will cut no ice with the authorities!
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It is a while ago now but our son had a year at a French uni under the Erasmus scheme and to our amazement got (what we now know is called) CAF.  It was cheaper for us with our son here in France than when he was in the UK! We were UK residents at that time.

No other money was forthcoming from France and we did not expect to get any,  I would doubt that Bourse is payable unless parents are in France but as said above your children should enquire themselves.

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When our son filled in the first form with CROUS, he was asked his nationality. At that time he was English. For the second year, when filling in the same form, he could not change the nationality box, even though by then he had dual nationality. Perhaps once you are in the "system", your rights continue until that stage of education is finished. Cannot track down the specific form but have found in the documents that make up the application the following

- Les étudiants français ou étrangers, mais dont les parents résident en France depuis au moins 2 ans doivent saisir un D.S.E. s’ils veulent une aide financière

du CROUS.

► Établissement d’inscription :

Renseignez-vous précisément sur le nom de l’établissement d’inscription et de la formation envisagée auprès du secrétariat. Il doit être habilité, si ce n’est pas le

cas, vous ne pouvez pas saisir votre vœu.

► Vœux à l’étranger :

Des Bourses sur Critères Sociaux peuvent être attribuées pour faire des études dans certains établissements des pays du Conseil de l’Europe. Vous pouvez

formuler ce vœu sur Internet si l’établissement où vous pensez vous inscrire permet d’être boursier.

2 – Les étudiants étrangers dont les parents ne résident pas en France depuis 2 ans au moins ne demandent pas leur bourse au moyen du DSE :

La demande de bourse doit être faite, avant le départ de l’étudiant pour la France, auprès du service de coopération et d’action culturelle de l’Ambassade ou du

Consulat Général de France ou du Ministère de l’Education de son pays d’origine

So it may be, given that you have lived in France for more than two years, you can get the bourse to finish this stage of their education. Again, only a face to face with the office will sort it out.

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Thank you everyone for your thought-provoking responses. I think it is true to say that only by putting our precise circumstances to the relevant authority will this matter be resolved, one way or the other. I am somewhat reluctant to put my head above the parapet however, for fear of drawing attention our situation at this stage.

It does look as if there are grounds for optimism, with my children having been in the system for so long. Not yet holding French nationality, they are currently applying for it and this could have a positive bearing on things.

I had hoped that someone might be around having already followed this route we are considering, but it is a rather an unusual one, I have to admit..

Nick
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