The U.S. has seen college tuition and costs soar so high that Harvard gives financial aid to middleclass kids. Last year, the phrase “college student loan” was usually followed by the word “scandal.” But who does scandal like the French?
The best-selling book in France right now is Mes Chères Études (My Dear Studies) by nineteen-year-old college sophomore “Laura D,” who financed her college education by sleeping with men.
At first blush it sounds like the plot of a musical comedy, but the horrifying realities have the French blushing with shame and anger.
Young Laura D. worked 15 hours a week in sales during her first semester but still went hungry. Like thousands of other French college students, she was denied basic student aid because her parents both work. Her parents have minimum-wage jobs and couldn’t help with her expenses; even in public housing they barely get by.
Amassing huge debts, Laura turned to the internet, answering ads for “escorts” and “masseuses,” earning about $400 to $600 per appointment. Once she was given a laptop computer, but it was no bargain; it was from a cruelly sadistic client. Eventually, overwhelmed by the psychological costs, she quit to work in a restaurant, and wrote the book with the help of a friend.
Laura D is not alone. Authorities estimate that 20,000 Frenchwomen pay for college the same way but are too ashamed to tell friends or family. A study by sociology graduate student Eva Clouet, La prostitution étudiante à l’heure des nouvelles technologies de communication (Student Prostitution in a Time of New Communication Technologies), based on interviews with student sex workers and their clients, has removed any doubts about the scope of the phenomenon.
These revelations have astounded the nation, even one with a reputation for permissiveness and a famed professional sex industry. The shock of these revelations has triggered demands for reform. The young people interviewed by Eva Clouet want realistic access to student aid, an increase in student housing, and programs permitting students to combine normal part-time jobs with an adjusted university workload. The Education Ministry has pledged a rapid response.
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The Times of London compared college student expenses in the UK and France. I’ve converted the sums into rough US dollar equivalents. Feel free to find similar US data.
France:
$2,100 Yearly education costs of average student
$6,532 Student’s estimated annual living costs
$9.75 Price of a pint of beer in Paris
$7.99 Price of a McDonald’s Big Mac burger
Britain
$3,939 Yearly education costs
$10,404 Annual living costs
$5.07 Price of a pint of beer in London
$3.78 Price of a Big Mac burger
$5,154 Average student loan (”France does not offer such loans” – Times)
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Image by Mike Licht.
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