Are you a student in secondary education and have received a request for further information on your academic progress? Reply in the OmaKela e-service
Students in secondary education who do not meet the minimum credit requirement for financial aid have received a request for further information. The deadline for replies is 28 September 2023.
Kela has started monitoring the academic progress of students in secondary education this autumn. Through the monitoring, Kela checks whether the eligibility criteria for financial aid are met. For this purpose, Kela looks at the academic progress in the previous academic year (1 August 2022-31 July 2023).
Kela has sent a request for further information to 6,000 students who are completing a basic vocational qualification or the general upper secondary school curriculum and who have not made sufficient academic progress. Students may receive a request for further information if they have completed less than 20 ECVET points or credits in the academic year 2022-2023.
The monitoring does not concern general housing allowance and school transport subsidy.
Students are advised to reply promptly to the request for information
The last date to reply to the request for further information is 28 September 2023 and the reply can be sent in the OmaKela e-service.
Students should first check that all their credits have been entered in the study record. If data are missing from the study record, the student should ask the educational institution to enter the missing credits in the study record and mention this in the reply to the request for further information.
The student must also mention the reasons for the unsatisfactory academic progress in the reply. If the student has made slower progress because of an acceptable reason, he or she may still continue to receive financial aid. Acceptable reasons for slower academic progress include for instance the student’s own or a close relative’s illness, other difficult life situation or the completing of an exceptionally extensive study module.
The student will get detailed instructions on how to reply with the request for further information.
Financial aid payments to students who do not reply or whose reasons cannot be accepted may have to be stopped effective 1 January 2024.
Student financial aid is seldom recovered
Financial aid is seldom recovered in connection with the monitoring of academic progress. Financial aid is only recovered if it is discovered that the student has completed exceptionally few credits and has never intended to study.