The student, this inhabitant that medium-sized towns are vying for

Located in the heart of Champagne and far from major cities, the city of Troyes may seem very calm. Yet that Wednesday, young people were running in all directions on the cobbled streets flanked by carefully renovated half-timbered houses. Dressed in bright pink t-shirts, these students are participating in the Clés de Troyes, an urban raid organized especially for them, in the middle of the school year. On the program of the tests: quiz in the Student House, riddles on the price of rent…

Organizer of the event, the capital of Aube widely distributes images on social networks. For years, Troyes has deployed a well-established strategy to attract young people. And it works! Between 1995 and 2022, the number of students increased from 2,500 to nearly 12,000 in this medium-sized city – 139,880 inhabitants.

Reasonable rents

Via forums and guides, the community praises the cost of living in Troy, which is very low compared to metropolises. A weighty argument: according to annual surveys by the National Union of Students of France (Unef), young people’s spending is increasing from year to year and has jumped by 4.12% on average since 2024. The increase in the cost of transport, registration fees in establishments, and above all, the explosion in housing prices explain this observation.

“My parents are not able to pay very high rents like in Lyon or Dijon,” confides Chloé, 20 years old. To complete her law degree near her hometown, Auxerre (Yonne), the young woman preferred to move to the medieval city. “Here, my apartment measures 35 m2 and costs 500 euros per month, not including housing assistance (APL).” A much more reasonable rent than in the majority of large cities. In Créteil, in the Paris region, or in Lyon in the Rhône, it costs around 600 to 800 euros per month for a furnished studio of 20 m2.

Campus on a human scale

Far from being frozen behind its colorful facades, Troyes displays its offer of more than 170 training courses: in commerce, tourism, design… Located in its suburbs, the University of Technology (UTT) – 3,000 students – has the appearance of an Olympic village with its new student residences and a vast sports complex nearby. “We feel like we live in a bubble here. There are associations, sports clubs, evenings, a laundromat, lists Thomas, in the preparatory cycle for the UTT engineering school. I come from Montpellier (Hérault), but I joined Troyes expressly for the quality of the training.”

Several other medium-sized cities (between 20,000 and 200,000 inhabitants according to several statistical thresholds in France) also rely on students. “Communities have long relied on the tourism and business sectors to develop, but they are now seeking to diversify their activities, analyzes Vincent Gollain, economist specializing in territorial marketing. During the 1990s, they invested a lot to attract higher education establishments and are now seeking to make these expenses profitable.”

In Tarn, Albi highlights its “local” university, a human-sized campus housing nearly thirty bachelor’s degrees and ten master’s degrees. Its engineering school, IMT Mines, is increasing partnerships with local companies to encourage students to stay after their course.

In the Loire, Saint-Étienne is seeking to break its image as a poor, deindustrialized town whose number of inhabitants has long declined. To achieve its objective of 40,000 students in 2030, it is highlighting its Higher School of Art and Design, and deploying an ambitious communication campaign in transport and on the Internet.

Casting shade on Paris

The Keys raid ends. At the bend of the historic center, a group of young people quicken their pace before gong time. Almost all of them come from the Parisian suburbs and have left the capital for the Champagne city, an hour and a half away by train.

Among them, Ali, 18, from Mantes-la-Jolie (Yvelines), does the math: “If I studied in Paris, I would have to spend almost three hours a day on the RER.” Here, he enjoys journeys that do not exceed ten minutes and a brand new feeling of independence. “I can have my own student accommodation with a kitchen. I don’t have to live with my parents!” Will the Mantais student in engineering have a career in the region? It’s a little early to know, but the high-tech hub of Troyes is already eyeing it. Enough to break the image of a sleepy town on the banks of the Seine.