Housing facilities - COMUE Université Bourgogne-Franche-Comté

Housing facilities

CROUS is a regional organisation part of the national institution named CNOUS providing a wide range of students services including accommodation, catering, administrative support, psychological and counselling services offered.

What are the benefits of living in a residence hall?

  • Students living on campus don’t waste time with daily transportation
  • Small housing communities and common spaces to share enable you to make more friends
  • Being just a walk away from the dining halls, food trucks, libraries, students associations and sport facilities allow you to socialize with your neighbors
  • Social, educational and intercultural events at your fingertips

All students are eligible to apply for an accommodation in a residence hall. You can also choose to live in a private residence, or in your own flat or flat share. See below “Other types of accommodation”.

Whether in Dijon, Besançon, Belfort or Montbéliard, Crous provides one-bedroom flats with very competitive rents and furnished rooms, which are very popular amongst students. Please note that all residence halls are mixed.

Monthly rent Description DIJON BESANÇON BELFORT MONTBELIARD
Around 167€ per month Individual furnished room of 9m² (single bed, table, chair, shelves, washbasin and wardrobe). Toilets and showers are in common spaces X
Around 257€ per month Individual furnished room of 12m² (single bed, table, chair, shelves, washbasin, wardrobe,  toilets and showers ) X X X X

 

For more information on the booking procedure, please contact our International Relations office at international@ubfc.fr.

ATTENTION: Note that you will be requested to pay the first month of rent along with the deposit at once. Make sure to have enough money on hand.

In addition to Crous housing, there are other alternatives. Click here.

A guarantor is a person who stands surety for you. That means that he or she agrees to pay your rent when you are no longer able to do so. In France, almost all owners, whether French or foreign, will ask you for a guarantor. It’s a way for them to make sure they get the rent no matter what.

The VISALE system is a free rental deposit (for students less than 30 years old) set up by the French government. The VISALE certificate is mandatory and will be requested by Crous. You can apply for VISALE as soon as your visa is issued to you on: https://www.messervices.etudiant.gouv.fr/envole/

A guide to apply for Visale is available.

For more information regarding Visale, click here.

If you are over 30 years old and do not have a guarantor in France, you will have to subscribe for this service online, on websites such as Garantme for example. This is not free of charge like Visale, and the price depends on the rent you’ll have to pay.

You’ll find here a guide to help you apply for a guarantor on Garantme, as this is the website commonly used by students, but feel free to use other websites, such as Cautioneo, Unkle or Smart Garant.

For any accommodation, you will have the legal obligation to take out a home insurance policy covering water damage and fire damage. That insurance is available through specific companies or with your bank (from 1 to 30€ approximately/month for a room in a university hall). The certificate of home insurance is mandatory and will be requested by Crous.

SMERRA has a 39€ per year insurance, including civil liability, with automatic renewal.

ADHE has different formulas: 22€ per year without civil liability or 30€ per year including civil liability.

Your French bank can also provide this service; get in touch with them in order to know their prices.

Prices for housing insurance will vary in accordance to the size of the accommodation, or the additional options you will select.

If you rent a room in a university residence, the price for electricity, gas, wifi are included in your rent and you will not have to take out an additional subscription. Laundries are available and washers and dryers cost around 2€ for each use.

 

As a student in France, you may be eligible to the housing benefit from the CAF (Caisse d’allocation familiale). Indeed, renting a place in France allows you to request financial support if you are staying in France for more than 3 months. You have to apply to the “Aide Personnalisée au Logement” (APL) granted by the Caisse des Affaires Familiales (CAF). Click here for a guide.

The amount of the allowance offered is based on your financial resources and on the price of the rent of your apartment without charges (electricity, water supply, heating etc.) Everything is done online, do not hesitate to do an online simulation to find out if you are eligible.