Analysis of the integration paths of young beneficiaries of the Youth Support Fund (Fonds d’aide aux jeunes – FAJ) is an indispensable tool to measure the effectiveness of the scheme’s aims: to facilitate the social and professional integration of disadvantaged 18 to 25 year olds and to grant direct financial aid to young people for a limited period along with nonfinancial support. Thirty-five face-to-face interviews show that the FAJ represents indispensable support regardless of beneficiaries’ employment situation and compensates for the inadequacies of other mechanisms such as student grants, the lack of a guaranteed minimum income for under-25s, and the unavailability of family support. Finally, young people have limited knowledge of the FAJ in particular and of support schemes in general. This sharpens their sense of opaqueness and discretion in the conditions on which support under the scheme is granted. More generally, the insufficiently transparent nature of the support schemes is to the disadvantage of those who lack the required “reading” tools and may affect their choices in terms of training and labour-market access.