On Wednesday 4 November 2026, the French Senate's finance committee adopted a proposal that would end the €1 Crous meal for all. Put forward by Senator Vanina Paoli-Gagin (Les Indépendants group), it would bring back the old system in the 2027 budget: €1 for grant holders, €3.30 for everyone else. The proposal still has to be voted on by the full Senate: for now, the meal stays at €1 for all students.
What the Senate finance committee is proposing
Every autumn, Parliament reviews the finance bill, which sets the state budget for the following year. In the Senate, each major spending area is first examined in committee, based on a report by one senator. Vanina Paoli-Gagin is the rapporteur for the universities budget.
According to Public Sénat, she puts the savings at €150 million. She wants to use them to reform needs-based grants, the financial aid the Crous pay to students based on their family's income: amounts would be smoothed out to avoid sharp cut-offs, and there would be around 35,000 more grant holders. Christine Lavarde (LR), the Senate's general rapporteur for the budget, backs the proposal.
What it would change for you
If the proposal is adopted, a student without a grant would go back to paying €3.30 per meal, €2.30 more than today: about €46 a month for someone who has lunch at a university restaurant every weekday.
That covers most international students. To get a needs-based grant, a student from outside the European Union must hold a residence permit, have lived in France for at least two years and have been part of a tax household in France for two years (Service-Public). A student from the EU, the European Economic Area or Switzerland must have worked in France or have a parent who earned income there. If you have only just arrived in France for your studies, you are unlikely to qualify.
For a non-European student, the increase would come on top of an already heavy budget, estimated by the student union UNEF at €2,160 a month in 2026.
A 2027 budget still under discussion
The government supports the €1 meal for all. On 20 September, Higher Education Minister Philippe Baptiste announced €143 million for the €1 meal in the draft 2027 budget. He also warned that without this budget, the government would be “unable to guarantee the €1 meal for all” (LCP).
Also on 4 November, the National Assembly rejected the first part of the 2027 finance bill, the part dealing with revenue. The bill is therefore considered rejected at first reading, and it is now the Senate's turn to examine it.
The committee's proposal now has to be adopted in a public sitting by the whole Senate. Even then, the final budget will depend on negotiations between the two chambers, and if they disagree, the National Assembly has the final say.
The €1 meal since 4 May
Since 4 May 2026, a meal at the Crous, the public bodies that run university restaurants among other services, has cost €1 for all students, with no income or nationality conditions. Before that, only grant holders and students in financial hardship were eligible. You need a student card and an activated Izly account, the Crous payment system. The meal includes a main dish and up to two “sides” (starter, cheese, dessert or fruit), with one €1 meal per service (etudiant.gouv.fr).
Demand has been higher than expected. According to the Cnous, which oversees the Crous network, restaurants have served 48% more meals since the start of the academic year than at the start of the 2025 year, or 1.3 million more. At the end of September, its president, Bénédicte Durand, asked each Crous to check the maximum capacity its restaurants can sustainably handle. For 2026, the state had budgeted €50 million and 204 additional full-time jobs.
Sources
- Assemblée nationale – Rejection at first reading of the 2027 finance bill
- Cnous – €1 meal for all students: keeping the scheme sustainable to ensure it works properly
- Service-Public – Students: needs-based grants
- etudiant.gouv.fr – How to get the €1 Crous meal
- Public Sénat – Universities: Senate rapporteur increases the number of grant holders, funded by ending the €1 meal for all and raising fees for the better-off
- LCP – Universities: no €1 meal for all if the 2027 budget is not adopted, the government warns
