Meal subsidy

If you are in higher education, you are eligible for discounted meals at participating student restaurants.

The meal subsidy is €2.55 per meal. The subsidy is deducted from the price of the meal at the student restaurant. You pay the discounted price. The subsidy is available for one meal per day.

Eligibility

You can get a meal subsidy if you are based in Finland and are completing

• a bachelor’s level university degree
• a master’s level university degree
• a bachelor's level degree in a university of applied sciences
• a master’s level degree in a university of applied sciences
• a university-level occupational or specialisation programme that qualifies you for financial aid for students.

You can qualify even if you are not a Finnish citizen. If you are attending a higher education institution in Finland as an exchange student, you qualify for the meal subsidy for the duration of your exchange.

Read about the benefits young persons can get from Kela.

When is the meal subsidy not available?

You cannot get a meal subsidy in the following situations:

• you are in Finland to participate in job training which is part of a higher education degree you are completing outside Finland
• you study in Finland but attend a foreign or private institution of higher education (such as Estonian Business School)
• you are completing a postgraduate degree (a licentiate or doctorate)
• you are completing a specialist degree in medicine, a specialist degree in dentistry or a specialist degree in veterinary medicine
• you are enrolled in a tailor-made education programme
• you do not attend an institution of higher education.

How to qualify

You qualify for the meal subsidy at the student restaurant by presenting

• a digital student card, which can be one of the following:
  • Frank student card
  • Kide.app student card
  • Slice student card
  • Tuudo student card
• a student card in plastic, which can be one of the following:
  • a student card issued by SYL
  • a student card issued by SAMOK
  • an AMK (UAS) student card
  • a student card displaying the name of a Finnish university or university of applied sciences 
  • an ISIC student card displaying the name of a Finnish university or university of applied sciences
• a meal subsidy card issued by Kela. The card is available from your school.

If you do not have a student ID card but are completing studies that qualify you for the meal subsidy, you can get a meal subsidy card issued by Kela from your school.

Which student cards do not entitle to a meal subsidy?

You are not entitled to a meal subsidy if you have for instance

• a digital ISIC student card
• a postgraduate student card
• a student card that has been issued on the basis of studies that are not full-time studies.

Read more