Student financial aid
The purpose of student financial aid is to provide economic security for students. Student financial aid is applied for from Kela.
The income of full-time undergraduate students typically consists of a study grant, general housing allowance and government-guaranteed student loan. If you complete your degree within the target time, you may be eligible for a student loan compensation or a student loan tax deduction.
Please note: If you are not a Finnish citizen and have come to Finland for study purposes, the general rule is that you cannot get financial aid from Finland. However, you may qualify for financial aid if you meet certain requirements listed on Kela’s web pages (see “Financial aid for foreign students”).
Applying for student financial aid
As a higher education student, you can apply for student financial aid from Kela for economic security. Read more about student financial aid on Kela’s website.
Student financial aid in Åland
You can receive student financial aid in Åland if you live permanently in Åland. Read more at Ålands arbetsmarknads- och studieservicemyndighet’s web pages.
Student financial aid for foreign citizens
If you are a foreign citizen, you can receive Finnish student financial aid under certain conditions. As a rule, persons coming to study in Finland from another country receive support for their studies from their home country.
Student financial aid for the summer months
You can also receive student financial aid between 1 June and 31 August. You can get financial aid for attending lectures, tests, job training or working on a thesis, among other things.
Illness during studies
If you fall ill during your studies, you can take a sick leave. Instead of receiving student financial aid, you can receive sickness allowance for the duration of your illness.
Help with student financial aid
Kela’s customer service provides support and advice related to student financial aid.
- Student service number in Finnish +358 20 692 209 (Mon–Fri 9:00–16:00)
- Student service number in Swedish +358 20 692 229 (Mon–Fri 9:00–16:00)
- Student service number in English +358 20 634 2550 (Mon–Fri 9:00–15:00)
You can also visit Kela’s customer service points in person.
If you need interpreting assistance, you can find information about interpreter service for the disabled on Kela’s website.
For how long can I receive student financial aid?
Your maximum period of eligibility for financial aid depends on the extent of your degree programme and when you began your first course of higher education study.
If you are completing both a bachelor’s and master’s degree, you will first receive student financial aid for completing the bachelor’s degree. You can only receive student financial aid for completing a master’s degree after you have completed a bachelor’s degree.
Impact of study progress on student financial aid
Study progress is checked every year in October. The check focuses on the previous academic year (1 August–31 July) and on the entire period during which you have studied at a higher education institution in Finland (as of 1 August 2011). Progress is not monitored on a month-by-month basis.
Your studies have progressed sufficiently if you have completed on average at least 5.0 ECTS credits worth of studies included in your degree for each month of financial aid during the previous academic year. However, you must have completed at least 20 ECTS credits for each academic year for which you have received student financial aid.
If you have not completed enough courses, Kela will send you a letter requesting further information. Respond to the letter and provide your reasons for the lack of progress. You may continue to get student financial aid if your progress was temporarily slowed for an acceptable reason.
Impact of income on student financial aid
Your income will affect the number of months per year for which you will be able to receive financial aid. You must ensure that your income is within the limits permitted by Kela.
You can raise the limit if you notice that your income will exceed it
- by applying for financial aid for only some months of study
- by cancelling financial aid in advance
- by voluntarily returning some of the financial aid paid to you.
Extension of the period of eligibility for student financial aid
If you have not been able to complete your degree within the maximum period of eligibility for financial aid, you may be granted an extension to your maximum period of eligibility with certain conditions. For the purposes of completing a higher education degree, you can receive an extension for a maximum of 9 months of financial aid to the maximum period of eligibility.
The extension is available only if you can show that your studies have been delayed by an illness or other particularly good reason. Read more about the extension of the period of eligibility for student financial aid on Kela’s web pages.
Basic social assistance
As a student, you may be entitled to basic social assistance. This may be the case if, for example, you cannot get student financial aid because
- you have not been granted a government guarantee for a student loan or you have not been able to secure a student loan from a bank
- you have used up all of your eligibility for financial aid
- your financial aid payments have been stopped because you have not made satisfactory progress
- you have not been granted student financial aid or it has been discontinued for some other reason.
Basic social assistance is a last-resort form of financial aid, which means that you must first apply for all other benefits to which you may be entitled.
Self-motivated studying subsidised with an unemployment benefit
Under certain conditions, unemployed jobseekers may study full time or part time without losing their unemployment benefit. The impact of your studies on your unemployment benefit will be determined in the TE services, so talk about your studying plans with the TE services before starting your studies.
Housing allowance
As a student, you can receive general housing allowance on the same terms as its other recipients. In other words, study months or maximum periods of eligibility for financial aid are not taken into account when granting the allowance. Housing allowance does not affect the receiving of student financial aid, and it is not considered as income in student financial aid.