Practical information
UTC supports its students throughout their training and helps them with their day-to-day questions and problems.
Student aid services
The BUTC is open to all. In order to help you with research assignments and investigations during your studies, the Library is there with its collections and services. To find out more or how it works, please don't hesitate to talk with the librarians.
CROUS and Region
French state grants managed by the CROUS services
These state grants enable financial support or access to student accommodation, allocations being made on the basis of social criteria for:
- Students who are French nationals
- Non-French students, either with parents who have lived in France for over 2 years or who benefit from political asylum measures
The grant or accommodation attribution are decided (with a points-scale, updated each year) as a function of family or personal resources (relevant information can be had at the CROUS office in Amiens or at the 'welcome' desk of the local University Residence). The decisions are notified directly to the applicants by the CROUS.
› Please note that if you are in final year of the engineering course and are preparing a Master's degree in parallel, you are not allowed to apply for the Master's grant. You can, however, be considered under French Higher Education grants, likewise based on social criteria.
Aids offered by the Hauts-de-France Region
Picardie Pass'Études
The Picardie 'Pass'Etudes' aid allows you to obtain a 50 to 100% reduction of an SNCF railway subscription: home-UTC or home to placement address (provided the placement is unpaid). Relevant information and conditions can be obtained at any SNCF station or by calling the "green-free" phone N°: 0 800 099 565.
The accommodation deposit warranty fund applies to students staying at the CROUS residences
It allow students to benefit from a solidarity warranty from the Picardie Region should they not have been able to secure the required deposit amount (from friends, family, Locapass …). Each request is assessed by the CROUS.
Free meals at the CROUS restaurants
If you are aged less than 30, have qualified for a level 6 or 5 grant (social index less than 2 200 points) and also have some financial difficulties, you can also qualify for free meals at the CROUS restaurants, with a max.100 meals per academic year. This food aid is proposed by a decision of the CROUS service.
Aids for health-related matters
If you have qualified for a grant, the Picardie Region can also offer 90€ to offset a complementary health insurance scheme. An application form can be found at http://cursusante.picardie.fr.
Loans
Loans (on honour)
If you are a French national student (or non-French but benefitting from political asylum), you may make an application for a loan (on honour) for one academic year. Loans cannot come in addition to any other Higher Education Grant and financial funds for them are very limited; consequently, only a few applicants are selected to receive the loan. The loan committee convenes early December each year.
The loans must contractually be refunded, at latest in the 10th year after graduation.
Personal loans
Should you experience financial difficulties, you can contact the social service of the Crous (see below) at phone numbers, either +33 3 44 86 59 63 or +33 3 44 20 36 28.
Bank loans
Certain banks in France can personal loans at attractive interest rates, especially if you are likely to spend some of your student period abroad. The various bank outlets in Compiegne have all the information needed for possible student loan schemes.
Housing
If you are seeking accommodation/housing in/near Compiegne, here are some possible sources of information and assistance.
ALESC
ALESC is an association specially set up to help students find accommodation.
CROUS
In France, the regional university and school services (code-named Crous) are public offices there to help socially, to welcome students from abroad, to help find student accommodation, managing university level restaurants and students' cultural time-out. They are part of a national network: the CNOUS.
CNOUS
This Centre (national level " Crous ") is designed to help students throughout their training years. The CNOUS is notably present in mobility-intensive cursus.
The “Visale” mechanism (formerly known as “Clé”, i.e., caution locative étudiante or “Lokaviz” – French acronym for student rental guarantee)
The former CROUS “CLÉ”, or « caution locative étudiante » is now known as the Visale garantee.
This new grant mechanism is an alternative to the parental guarantee in agreement with the landlord to be put in place before the signing of the inventory of accommodation fixtures. In principle, nothing changes: it is a guarantee that makes it possible to reimburse unpaid rent and set charges in the event of financial difficulties. After the landlord has been paid off, the student tenant will also have to repay his or her debt to Visale irrespective of having taken out insurance for his/her rental. Thus ‘Action Logement’ assumes the responsibility of a guarantor for students, free of charge, for the entire duration of the occupation of the accommodation. For the public, the guarantee is intended for young people under the age of 30. In addition, young tenants are eligible for ‘APL’, and also for the energy voucher to facilitate and simplify the formalities of moving in, such as the procedures for opening the electricity meter.
Ensemble2Générations
This is an association that helps provide for free accommodation for students and a way to break the solitude of senior citizens, who agree to live together and provide inter-generation, mutual services.