Maximum period of eligibility in higher education

If you are completing a degree in higher education, 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. Your course of study is considered to have begun when you first registered as attending in an institution of higher education.

Months in which you are paid a study grant or housing supplement count against your maximum period of eligibility.

If you are not completing a degree but a separate study module or a course of continuing vocational education, you can get financial aid for up to the normal length of study according to the curriculum. If the length of study has not been specified, you can get one month of financial for each five credits.

If you have received financial aid for a course of study in upper secondary education, that does not count against your maximum period of eligibility for higher education, and conversely, any financial aid you receive for higher education does not affect your eligibility with regard to upper secondary education.

Learn more about the maximum periods of eligibility:

• Universities of applied sciences
• Universities
• Universities (pre-2011)
• Several courses of study in higher education
• Post-graduate study
• Extension of the period of eligibility for financial aid

Use the eligibility calculator in the OmaKela e-service to find out the number of months of aid for higher education which you have used and which still remain available to you if you have received financial aid this year or during the last two years. Please note that our e-service is only available in Finnish and Swedish.