Write three money dates: bourse (often mid-month), family transfer, and job pay. If CROUS rent is due before the bourse, the buffer exists for that gap, not for a weekend in Belgium. APL or ALS, when you actually receive it, reduces the housing line; do not count it as extra pizza money. Resto U meals are a category cap, not a diet rule. Private studios in Lyon or Toulouse need a different rent line than a CROUS room in a smaller city. This template is a planning example, not a grant calculator.
What belongs in a student month
- Housing: CROUS, colocation, or a family-hosted contribution. Include charges if they are billed monthly.
- Food: resto U tickets plus a supermarket cap. Delivery is leisure, not food.
- Transport: regional student pass or a realistic number of TER tickets, not a car unless you truly have one.
- Phone and campus printing: small, but they kill the month if ignored.
- A 233 EUR buffer for a delayed bourse or a required textbook.
If you work 10 hours a week, do not spend that cash before it hits the account. Pair this guide with the France roommate template if you share a private lease, or with first-apartment costs if you are leaving the CROUS residence in September.
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