KELA informs: Students will be transferred from the general housing allowance scheme to the student housing supplement scheme on 1 August 2025
Parliament has decided to transfer students from the general housing allowance scheme to the student housing supplement scheme. Students have been eligible for general housing allowance since autumn 2017. Starting in August 2025, students will again be included in the student housing supplement scheme.
Parliament has approved the legislative changes concerning assistance with housing costs for students. Following the changes, the majority of students will be transferred from the general housing allowance scheme to the student housing supplement scheme. The changes will not concern those who live with their child or their spouse’s child. They will be eligible for general housing allowance also in the future.
For those who are transferred to the student housing supplement scheme, the payment of housing allowance will end in July and the housing supplement can be granted at the earliest starting from August. Housing supplement must be applied for separately with the notification of changes for financial aid for students. New students apply for housing supplement at the same time as other types of student financial aid.
The housing supplement will be available to students who live in rental or right-of-occupancy housing. In the future, the housing supplement will be 80 percent of the rent or the residence charge. However, the maximum rate of the housing supplement will be EUR 216, EUR 248 or EUR 296 per month, depending on the municipality in which the student lives.
Maximum amount of housing supplement in different municipalities
| Municipal category | Maximum amount of housing supplement |
| Municipal category I (Espoo, Helsinki, Kauniainen and Vantaa) | EUR 296 per month |
| Municipal category II (Hyvinkää, Hämeenlinna, Joensuu, Jyväskylä, Järvenpää, Kerava, Kirkkonummi, Kuopio, Lahti, Lohja, Nokia, Nurmijärvi, Oulu, Porvoo, Raisio, Riihimäki, Rovaniemi, Seinäjoki, Sipoo, Siuntio, Tampere, Turku, Tuusula and Vihti) | EUR 248 per month |
| Municipal category III (other municipalities) | EUR 216 per month |
The entitlement to and the amount of the housing supplement will be affected only by the student’s own income. The incomes of other persons who live in the home will not affect the amount of or the entitlement to the housing supplement. Housing supplement can be granted even if the student has not previously been entitled to general housing allowance for instance due to the spouse’s or roommate’s incomes.
The student housing supplement will only be paid for months of study, unlike the general housing allowance, which has been paid throughout the year.
Housing supplement makes the benefit system for students less complicated but will reduce the amount of assistance paid to students
Since the housing supplement is part of the student financial aid, it will be easier for students to get their Kela benefits in order as they only have to apply for and consider the rules for one benefit. Students only have to keep in mind the income limits for the student financial aid, and Kela need only be notified of changes that affect the student financial aid.
Housing supplement, as well as other types of student financial aid, will only be available for months of study. The number of months of financial aid is usually 9 per year for higher education and 10 per year for other types of education. If the student does not get student financial aid for the summer months, they will also not get housing supplement for the summer months.
There will be almost 200,000 recipients of student housing supplement. That is tens of thousands more than the number of students transferred from the general housing allowance scheme to the student housing supplement scheme.
“Housing supplement will thus be paid to a larger number of persons, but for most recipients the amount of the benefit will be smaller than before. In other words, for more people, but less,” says Ilpo Lahtinen, Senior Coordinator at Kela’s Student Financial Aid Section.
The maximum amount of housing allowance available to a student who lives alone in rental housing is EUR 394 per month. The maximum amount of housing supplement is significantly smaller. If for instance a student who lives in the Greater Helsinki Area gets student financial aid and housing supplement for 9 months per year, the student’s assistance with housing costs will diminish by more than EUR 2,000 on a yearly level. Even if the assistance for housing costs will be reduced for most students, some students will benefit from the change, according to Lahtinen.
“There are also winners in this change. Housing supplement will be available for instance for persons who live with a spouse or roommate with high income. Housing supplement will also be paid to persons with higher incomes, since the income limits for student financial aid are significantly higher than the income limits for housing allowance.”