Are you a higher education student and have received a request for further information on your academic progress? Reply to the request in OmaKela
Kela has sent a request for further information to higher education students who do not meet the minimum credit requirement for financial aid. The deadline for replies is 25 October 2023.
Kela monitors the academic progress of higher education students on a yearly basis. This is done to check that they continue to meet the eligibility requirements for financial aid. The current monitoring round focuses on academic progress in the previous academic year (1 August 2022–31 July 2023) and, where appropriate, progress during the entire course of study. The academic year is monitored as a whole, so the credits completed in any individual month are not monitored.
Kela has sent a request for further information to about 15,500 higher education students who do not meet the minimum credit requirement for financial aid. Students who have opted out of receiving paper mail from Kela will receive the request in OmaKela only. About 142,000 students received financial aid in academic year 2022–2023.
Academic progress is considered satisfactory if a student has earned on average at least 5 credits per month of financial aid, and in any case at least 20 credits over the whole academic year. Kela takes into account all the credits completed at Finnish higher institutions and the used months of financial aid. Incomplete studies are taken into account as well.
Any general housing allowance payments students get from Kela are not conditional on meeting academic progress requirements
Students are advised to reply promptly to the request for information
The last date to reply to the request for further information is 25 October 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.
Students who have an acceptable reason for having made slower progress must indicate the reason in their reply. Acceptable reasons include for instance the student’s own or a close relative’s illness, other difficult life situation or completing an exceptionally extensive study module.
Financial aid payments to students who do not reply or whose reasons are not accepted will be stopped effective 1 January 2024.