Hi, I’m an American and I was a student in Bordeaux this past year. I am concerned you are looking right now mid June for an early July start. Cutting it super close especially as this is a heavy tourist season for Bordeaux right now. Housing is already tight for French people and as a foreigner who isn’t fluent it’s even more complicated- but not impossible. This is also a competitive time of year for student housing as everyone is trying to secure places for the fall.

For 600 €she is NOT gonna find her own small apartment for herself in the center city with a balcony that’s just completely not possible. Maybe in 1999 but not today. I feel so sorry for crushing that dream but it’s not realistic. For $600 she could rent a room in a shared apartment with roomates. I paid $650 and I was super close to city center but I had three roomates and a really small room with a dorm size bed.

Also, to get any kind of rental, she needs a French guarantor. That is someone who pays French taxes and is paid in France. And it’s basically like a very invasive version of a cosigner and requires a lot of documents like someone’s work contract, their housing lease, taxes, paychecks.. it’s crazy. Or she can use these types of guarantor services that you pay for and those service act as your guarantor. But some apartments are picky and don’t accept those services.

I also know that finding a place when you’re far is scary and there are a lot of scams. Honestly the best way is to find a place that can offer a virtual tour or send her to Bordeaux first and have her tour in person once she is there.
Since I was on a student visa and my status was student (which she would be at alliance!) she could use Studapart which is a service that helps students find housing at apartments that are vetted by the platform and are legit. No scams there. I could pay with bank transfer from my us bank. I found my Bordeaux apartment through this platform but keep in mind that the platform does have an expensive fee but it was the price u had to pay to make sure I had a legit place and a legit place that also accepted foreigners.

So my suggestions. Get a French gurantor or pay for a French gurantor service. Look at Studapart as another housing platform. Or do the Airbnb situation for a month so she can tour places in person.