Housing and food services

The private dormitory La Houille Blanche is available to Grenoble Institute of Technology students. La Houille Blanche accommodates more than 600 engineering students in furnished and equipped single or double rooms, as well as in studio apartments.

The dormitory is located in an area surrounded by parks and two bus lines are linking it to Grenoble downtown. Lots of services are available too, like laundries and kitchens, a private swimming pool, a library, sport fields, a video club and a room where you can play table football, table tennis and snooker.

Other student accommodations are possible too. CROUS, the organisation responsible for student social services, offers accommodation in 10 public student dormitories in Grenoble. There are also private student hostels, independent rooms at family's houses and shared or not flats.

It is quite easy for students to find accommodation in Grenoble and a lot of structures put students in touch with landlords. Two weekly newspapers also published accommodation opportunities.

Admission to public student dormitory

Students have to fulfil a Dossier Social Etudiant to apply for a room in a public student dormitory. This document will be handled by CROUS.

Accommodation offered by CROUS are reserved to students whose family has low income. The criteria are: income of the student and parents, geographical distance between them and educational results.

Once accommodation has been sorted out, students can ask for housing assistance: APL (Aide Personnalisée au Logement) or ALS (Allocation Logement à caractère Social).

University restaurants are open to all students enroled at a higher education establishment accredited by the French public welfare system. They are located close to university sites. There are 7 of them in Grenoble, either in town or on the campus.

For just €2.85 (2008-2009 prices), you can eat a full meal composed of a starter, a hot main course and a dessert. And to spice up your day and seduce your taste buds, university restaurants prepare a theme meal every month.

Tickets can be bought at the restaurant's entrance and are valid in CROUS cafeteria too. It is therefore possible to take meals or sandwiches away.
In each school of Grenoble Institute of Technology, the student board is in charge of a cafeteria which offers sandwiches, pizzas, pies, fruits and drinks.

In order to find the best restaurants in town, the best places to go out or the best shopping locations, don't hesitate to have a look inside the Dahu, a guidebook published by Grenoble students about day and night life in the capital city of the French Alps.