Hi

Would anybody be able to offer any ideas/leads/accomadation for a 20 year old Erasmus student due to study at The Sorbonne in the forthcoming academic year?

Our trip last week was not particularly promising - we were told that because of the issue of parental guarantees, landlords would always give preference to a French national, and we actually got to view very little in the end. What we did see was quite shocking.

What is a realistic price for a decent studette/studio or self contained appartments?

My daughter is happy to also do co-location.

Thanks

It is Very Hard to find accomodation in Paris for anyone and students are right at the bottom of the ladder as their budgets are limited; rentals are generally very high as there is so little supply. Word of mouth is the best way of finding something - but for that you need to be here and to be connected up to other students who are leaving - a good number of apartments are passed on (with the OK of the landlord obviously) from one student to another without ever being advertised. Many people rent furnished accomodation at first and then see what they can find once here, the other alternative is to look further out of town and to commute in by train. Good luck!

Hi, i already posted a reply to your daughter's post, but i guess she may not have seen it. I'm in the same position as your daughter and agree that finding somewhere to rent in Paris really is a challenge. The average price for a studio flat is between 550 + euros, and for a flatshare between 500-700 euros. Although it sounds really expensive you can get the CAF which is an allowance given to students by the government. You just have to apply for it. Also if you live alone in a studio flat you receive more of this money than if you share a flat, and also there are lots more studio flats than flatshares. The eastern half of Paris is more affordable for students than the western half. The problem i've found so far is not so much finding a nice flat, but more that every time i do there are about 50 other people wanting it, so you have to be really really quick. Did you try for one of Paris' student hall of residences? Or there are halls called foyers which have a religious background..they're a cheaper option and are usually located right in the city centre?

Best Wishes

Nicola

Hi Nicola -
Just saw both of these! I know what you mean about the competition for each flat. It's simply ridiculous. I've looked at the foyers, but to my eye they look like a more oppressiv version of living in halls in England, without the freedom to do things like cook, for the most part. Also, I could be wrong on this, but the application process loks horrendously complex.
At the moment I just need a roof in Paris while I look for somewhere more permanent, but even that is looking prohibitively expensive!
Catherine

The student halls of residence (in Paris, different in other cities) is only avilable to students from third year + you need to apply via the CROUS the year before and all this forms part of the application process; you can find more information here on studying in France: http://paris.angloinfo.com/information/6/students.asp

Good luck - if it helps, even French students have a hard time getting somewhere to stay in Paris, hence the long Q's at each appt.

Just a thought, but have yur looked at Campusea ? , on the rentals page but specifically designed for students : http://paris.angloinfo.com/af/390/paris-and-ile-de-france-furnished-apartments-studios-and-houses.html certainly worth a look................http://www.campusea.fr/fr/home.html?L=1