Students are eligible for various types of financial assistance from Kela during education. The following checklist sums up the key points relating to the assistance available from Kela, from the beginning of study to graduation.
The student financial aid safeguards your income during your studies. You can receive student financial aid for post-comprehensive school studies. Student financial aid includes the study grant and a state guarantee for a student loan. Some students also receive a housing supplement.
The general rule is that you must be 17 to qualify for student financial aid. If you are 15 or 16 and your parents’ income is low, you can get a supplementary allowance for the purchase of study materials and a government guarantee for a student loan. If you are entitled to free education, you cannot get the supplementary allowance. Calculate the amount of aid that may be available to you. The calculator asks you to provide an estimate for your parents’ annual income.
If you leave comprehensive school in 2021 or later and were born in or after 2004, most upper secondary level education will be available to you free of charge and you are within the scope of extended compulsory education. If you left comprehensive school before 2021, you are outside the scope of extended compulsory education.
Apply for financial aid once you have been admitted to a school. If you are required formally to accept the place of study offered, apply for financial aid once you have done so. Even if you do not yet know how and where you will be living during your studies, you can apply for the study grant and the student loan guarantee.
If you are studying in Finland, apply to Kela for the general housing allowance. You can apply for this after you have signed the rental agreement. If you are moving out from the home of your parent(s), fill out the form for notifying Kela of changes in the financial aid for students.
After you receive a decision notifying you that you have been granted a government loan guarantee, you can apply for a student loan with a bank of your choice. You can make apply through the bank's online service.
If you are studying at a university or a university of applied sciences, you must pay the healthcare fee for students in higher education each term.
You are eligible for the school transport subsidy if you attend upper secondary school or basic vocational education and you make at least 10 qualifying trips between home and school per month.
If you are in upper secondary education, apply for school transport in the OmaKela e-service. Apply separately for each term.
The study grant and the general housing benefit payments are deposited to your account on the 1st of the month or the immediately following business day. For example, if the 1st day of the month is a Saturday, the benefits are paid on the following Monday.
If you have been employed, hold on to any documents that show your income for the year in which you begin your studies. If your annual income exceeds the maximum limit for financial aid, you can use them to prove what part of your income was earned before you began your studies. You do not have to show proof of wages and benefits that have been recorded in the incomes register.
Kela pays part of higher education students’ meals at student restaurants.
Please let us know if there are changes in your circumstances. Such changes include transferring to another educational institution, discontinuing your studies, moving, or studying abroad on a temporary basis.
Remember to notify separately us about changes that affect the housing allowance, such as income, living costs or members of the household.
You can get financial aid also for the summer if you study. You can also work a summer job, but remember to keep track of your earnings and compare them against the income limits for financial aid and the housing allowance. If you cannot study in the summer and you do not have a summer job, you can apply to Kela for basic social assistance.
If you have been granted financial aid for your entire course of study, the payment of financial aid will continue automatically after the summer. Visit Kela's e-services website to check the next payment date.
Higher education students: check at the end of each academic year that you have earned enough academic credits (ECTS). If you do not have enough credits, you can voluntarily repay some financial aid by a specified deadline. Otherwise Kela may stop paying you financial aid the following January.
You must make progress in your studies to get financial aid. Kela monitors study progress annually in September (upper secondary education) and in October (higher education).
If you are employed, check your income against the annual income limit. You can do this on Kela's e-service website. In April, the e-service will also show preliminary information about your annual income. If you exceed the income limit, repay some financial aid by the end of April.
If you receive the general housing allowance, remember to notify us immediately of changes in your income.
To avoid having to pay back overpaid financial aid, check your income and, if necessary, repay voluntarily some financial aid by the end of April. Otherwise, Kela will collect the overpaid financial aid from you plus an additional 7.5 per cent.
If you are in higher education, have a student loan and graduate within the target time, Kela can pay off as much as a third of your student loan in the form of a student loan compensation.
If you are in higher education, you should not make repayments on your student loan in or before the year you graduate. Doing so may make you ineligible for a student loan tax deduction or compensation.
Keep all documents that show your income for the year of graduation. If your annual income exceeds the income limit for financial aid, you can use them to prove that you have earned it after you graduated. You do not have to show proof of wages and benefits that have been recorded in the incomes register.
If you receive the general housing allowance and your income changes after graduation, remember to notify us of this immediately.
If you cannot find work immediately after graduating, register as an unemployed jobseeker with the Employment and Economic Development Office (TE office) and apply to Kela for unemployment benefit.
After you graduate, you will need to start paying interest on your student loan. You will also have to begin making repayments on the loan. Contact your bank to find out what the payment schedule is. If you have low income, Kela can pay the interest on your student loan. When your bank bills you for the interest, apply for interest assistance using form OT7 (in Finnish, OT7r in Swedish).