Before March 2025, young people – between 15 and 17 years old – received aid of 20 euros one year then 30 euros for the next two. This amount is reduced to 50 euros only in the year of 17 years. From the age of 18, the amount allocated increased from 300 to 150 euros (200 euros under certain social conditions or in the event of a disability).
For students in the Paca region, this loss is combined with the disappearance of the Youth e-Pass, a regional system, which made it possible to finance cultural goods and sporting activities to the tune of 80 euros per school year.
According to some students, the reduction in the budget or even the age restriction has an impact on them. In fact, with this money, young adolescents had better access to culture, particularly with the purchase of books for certain courses or even the reservation of show or theater tickets.
Accentuated inequalities between young people?
In addition, the desire to reduce the public deficit, which amounted to 5.1% of GDP in 2025, pushes the government to reduce the cultural budget for young adolescents. In wanting to reduce this deficit, France excludes certain students from the Culture Pass, a system which was extremely important to them, particularly for the purchase of certain school books.
For certain young people aged between 15 and 16, this exclusion from the Culture Pass system may lead them to limit their access to school books or even cultural outings. If this reform allows the State to reduce the public deficit, on the other hand, it accentuates inequalities between young people and can lead to a risk of social fracture. Cultural capital is the set of cultural resources (the level of diploma, the possession of cultural goods, the habits of attendance at museums, etc.) that an individual possesses and which can promote their social success.
The absence or reduction of the Culture Pass severely penalizes families and students from working-class backgrounds, who relied on this system to purchase school books. This worsens inequalities in terms of culture, compared to more advantaged environments.
