It is difficult to set a spending budget that can accommodate all students.
However, here are some indicative expenses that can help you prepare an initial budget
- university registration fees: Licence – 170 € Licence / Masters – 243 €/ Doctorate : 380 € / engineering 601€
- CVEC: 95€
- average monthly rent: very variable from – 275€ in a Crous room to 500€ in a private residence
- deposit for a university room: one-month rent
- rental insurance with civil liability (compulsory): about 50€/year
- average price of a meal at the university restaurant: 3.30 €/meal
- SUAPS (sports at the university) subscription: 30 €/year
- monthly Twisto pass (urban transport) for those under 26 years old: 22 to 27 €/month
- basic university supplies: approx. 150 €/year
For other living expenses, we recommend that you visit Numbeo.com, which details the average cost of living city by city, in the currency of your choice.
The Campus France student portal also provides excellent advice on how to prepare your budget.
If you plan to stay more than one academic year in France, it is strongly advised to open a bank account in France.
A bank account can be very useful, especially for obtaining housing subsidies, scholarship payments, reimbursement of medical expenses by the CPAM and your mutual insurance company, paying with IZLY or for subscribing to services such as home internet.
Its use also facilitates the process of renewing your residence permit with the prefecture. You will be able to provide a bank statement justifying your resources.
The process is quick and simple and many banks offer special student banking packages with advantages such as a free bank card etc.
Here is an indicative list of documents usually required to open a French bank account:
- an official identity document
- a valid visa/residence permit (for non-Europeans)
- a proof of residence (certificate from the Crous, electricity bill…),
- your leocard or school certificate (downloadable from your UNICAEN digital account)
- Once your account has been opened, you will be able to print a RIB (Relevé d’Identité Bancaire), a document containing your banking information necessary for direct payments and reimbursements.
You will also be able to request a checkbook and a French bank card, thus avoiding the transaction and exchange fees usually applied when using a bank card abroad.
You will find many bank branches in Caen and its suburbs. Here is a non-exhaustive list of branches near the university:
If you plan to stay more than one academic year in France, it is strongly advised to open a bank account in Caen.
A bank account can be very useful, especially for obtaining housing subsidies, scholarship payments, reimbursement of medical expenses by the CPAM and your mutual insurance company, or for subscribing to services such as home internet.
Its use also facilitates the process of renewing your residence permit with the prefecture. You will be able to provide a bank statement justifying your resources.
The process is quick and simple and many banks offer special student banking packages with advantages such as a free bank card, additional home insurance, etc.
Here is an indicative list of documents usually required to open a French bank account
- an official identity document
- a valid visa/residence permit (for non-Europeans)
- a proof of residence (certificate from the Crous, utility bill…),
- your leocard or school certificate (downloadable from your UNICAEN digital account).
Once your account opened, you will be able to print a RIB (Relevé d’Identité Bancaire), a document containing your banking information necessary for direct payments and reimbursements.
You will also be able to request a checkbook and a French bank card, thus avoiding the transaction and exchange fees usually applied when using a bank card abroad.
You will find many bank branches in Caen and its suburbs. Here is a non-exhaustive list of branches near the university:
- Société Générale
- BNP Parisbas
- Banque Postale
- Crédit Agricole
- BRED Banque Populaire
- Caisse d’épargne
- CIC
- HSBC
- LCL
Online banks
International online banks can provide an interesting alternative to more traditional banks. The most popular with international students are Revolut, Wise and Bunq. These three banks offer French RIB/IBAN.
Opening a bank account when under 18
If you are under 18, it will be complicated for you to open a bank account in France: indeed, you will not be able to open an account without being accompanied by one of your parents or a person holding parental authority.
The transfer of parental authority must be done in your country of origin with the competent authorities.
However, there is a right to an account (droit au compte) for foreign minors over the age of 16. To find out more about this procedure, you should contact the Banque de France.
Attention! This procedure is longer and more complicated than opening an account with a private bank.
To open a bank, it is the age of majority in your home country that is taken into account. This can be a problem for students from countries where the age of majority is later than in France (e.g. in Egypt, a person becomes an adult at 21, whereas in France, the age of majority is 18).
However, some banks are not necessarily aware of this subtlety and this might no prove problematic.
Campus France tutorial: Opening a bank account (English subtitles)
By creating an IZLY account from the email sent automatically at the time of your university registration, you transform your (activated) leocard into a means of electronic payment on all the campuses and Crous UNICAEN sites and thus gain easy access to the following paying services:
- university restaurants and drink/snack machines on campus
- Crous laundromats
- UNICAEN printing and photocopying service
IZLY is also available in App version for smartphone (IOS & Android) for some countries.
Once your IZLY account has been created and activated, there are two options for topping up your account:
- by credit/debit card on the IZLY web portal or the smartphone application: foreign cards (Visa or Mastercard) are accepted if your card is linked to a bank account opened in a bank of the European Economic Area (the 27 member countries of the European Union plus Lichtenstein, Iceland and Norway) and you card has 3D Secure protection.
- by bank transfer: from a French bank account only