Newsletter 30.12.2025

Higher education students will pay more for student meals

Newsletter 15.12.2025

Kela Newsletter 12/2025

The due date for the healthcare fee for students in higher education is 15 November. You can pay the fee handily in the OmaKela e-service (available in Finnish and Swedish only).

If you are a higher education student and you have registered as attending, you must pay the student healthcare fee by 15 November at the latest. The fee is EUR 35.60 per academic term, and it helps the Finnish Student Health Service (FSHS) offer comprehensive student healthcare services. We recommend paying the healthcare fee before the due date. If your payment is late, you will also have to pay a fixed late-payment charge.

You can pay the fee in OmaKela by selecting Oikopolut (Shortcuts) and then Korkeakouluopiskelijan terveydenhoitomaksu (Healthcare fee for students in higher education).

Not sure if you have already paid?

Visit OmaKela to check the details of the student healthcare fees you have paid. First select Oikopolut (Shortcuts) and then Korkeakouluopiskelijan terveydenhoitomaksu (Healthcare fee for students in higher education) and finally Maksut (Payments).

Pay the fee in OmaKela!

Not responding to the request for further information may lead to loss of benefits - answer latest on 25 October

Students in higher education must respond to the request for further information by 25 October 2025. The answer can be sent through OmaKela. OmaKela is only available in Finnish and Swedish, but the reply can be in English.

If a student does not reply to the request for further information or if the reasons presented in their reply are not accepted, Kela will stop paying them student financial aid and housing supplement as of 1 January 2026. Reinikainen wants to remind students that the changes made to student housing benefits in August 2025 mean that study progress now also affects a student’s housing benefits.

“This year, it is more important than ever to respond to Kela’s request for further information on study progress. Not responding to it, or not presenting an acceptable reason for the lack of study progress, may lead to Kela stopping the payment of the student’s financial aid and housing supplement. This means that students should respond to the request as soon as possible so that they do not forget to do so and lose their benefits at the start of the next year.

If Kela does stop the payment of a student’s financial aid and housing supplement, the student can apply for it again once they have made enough progress with their studies.

Additional information: How to reply to a request for further information if you are a student in higher education

Kela monitors the study progress of students in upper secondary education and higher education on a yearly basis. Students are required to make satisfactory progress with their studies in order to get financial aid for students and housing supplement from Kela.

Kela has sent a request for further information to about 6,000 upper secondary students and 15,200 higher education students who do not meet the minimum study credit requirement for financial aid for the academic year 2024–2025. A total of about 284,00 students received student financial aid in the previous academic year. This means that only about 7,5 per cent of all students will be asked to explain their lack of progress.

“It is understandable for students to sometimes have problems with their studies and not make progress at the planned pace. If a student receives a request for further information from Kela, they should respond to it and tell Kela why their studies have slowed down,” says Legal Counsel Linda Reinikainen from Kela’s Student Financial Aid Section.

She further clarifies that students generally make good progress in their studies. Students in higher education must earn an average of at least 5 credits per month of financial aid and a total of at least 20 credits per academic year in order to qualify for financial aid for students. For students in upper secondary education, the minimum study progress required is 20 credits or ECVET points per academic year.

If a student has received a request for further information about their study progress, the first thing they should do is check whether all their study credits have been properly entered into their study record. If data are missing from the study record, the student should ask their educational institution to enter the missing credits in the study record and mention this in their reply to Kela.

In addition to missing credits, there are other acceptable reasons for a lack of study progress. Acceptable reasons for a slower study progress include for instance the student or someone close to them falling ill, a difficult life situation or working on an exceptionally extensive study module. Students who are facing any of these challenges should tell Kela about it in their reply.

Not responding to the request for further information may lead to loss of benefits

Students in upper secondary education must respond to the request for further information by 3 October 2025 at the latest, while higher education students must respond by 25 October 2025. The answer can be sent through OmaKela. OmaKela is only available in Finnish and Swedish, but the reply can be in English.

If a student does not reply to the request for further information or if the reasons presented in their reply are not accepted, Kela will stop paying them student financial aid and housing supplement as of 1 January 2026. Reinikainen wants to remind students that the changes made to student housing benefits in August 2025 mean that study progress now also affects a student’s housing benefits.

“This year, it is more important than ever to respond to Kela’s request for further information on study progress. Not responding to it, or not presenting an acceptable reason for the lack of study progress, may lead to Kela stopping the payment of the student’s financial aid and housing supplement. This means that students should respond to the request as soon as possible so that they do not forget to do so and lose their benefits at the start of the next year.

If Kela does stop the payment of a student’s financial aid and housing supplement, the student can apply for it again once they have made enough progress with their studies.

Additional information: How to reply to a request for further information if you are a student in higher education

Because of changes in student housing assistance, Kela received an unusually large number of applications for student housing benefits over the summer. This backlog has now been cleared, and students will get their benefits within the usual target time.

The processing times of applications for student financial aid and the housing supplement for students were longer than usual this summer. Due to the delays in processing, financial aid or housing supplement payments to some students were delayed for August and September.

The backlog has now been cleared, and all students will get decisions on their applications within the usual target time.

Kela apologises for the delay. Marianne Schauman-Lindberg, head of Kela’s Centre for Student Benefits, commends students for having dealt well with the changes in housing assistance and for doing all the right things when applying for benefits.

“We want to thank students for their patience under these exceptional circumstances”, she says

Kela has set itself a target time of 14 days for processing applications for financial aid. Applications from higher education students will now be processed within this target time.

Applications filed by upper secondary level students have been processed within the target time since August.

Students can keep track of the progress of their application in the OmaKela e-service. Decisions issued on applications for financial aid or housing supplement can also be viewed in OmaKela.

Additional information: Housing supplements for students

Most students in higher education may not be able to get housing benefits in August. However, if you qualify for a student loan, you can start drawing down your student loan for the autumn term at the beginning of August to help you with your housing costs. Some students may also benefit from applying for student financial aid for the summer months.

Students will be transferred to a new student housing supplement scheme at the beginning of the 2025–2026 academic year. Starting from 1 August, the majority of students will be paid the housing supplement for students as their housing benefit, and they must apply for the student housing supplement separately. This means that students will no longer qualify for general housing allowance after 31 July 2025, and many students in higher education will not be paid any form of housing benefits in August.

"If you are a student and you could not get a job for the summer or if you have nothing left over from your summer job wages, you can do summer studies and apply for both student financial aid and the student housing supplement for August. The other option is to draw down your student loan because the first instalment for the coming academic year becomes available at the beginning of August. This means that you can use your student loan to cover your housing costs in August,” says Sari Miettunen, Coordinator at Kela.

You can freely decide whether you want to take out a student loan and how much you want to draw down at a time. The entire loan amount does not need to be drawn down in one go, which means that you can, for example, decide to draw down just enough to cover your housing costs in August. Even if you cannot get any other student financial aid in August, you can draw down your student loan.

You can check the maximum loan amount, the drawdown amounts, and the first and last drawdown dates in the OmaKela e-service. This information is also available in the decision Kela has issued to you on student financial aid.

Kela provides a student loan guarantee for one academic year at a time

Kela has issued decisions on student loan guarantees for the next academic year. The decisions have been sent to over 113 000 students who continue their studies in autumn. If you already have a student financial aid case pending at Kela, you will receive a decision on the loan guarantee in connection with the processing of your financial aid case. If you have opted out of paper mail, you can see Kela’s decision on your student loan guarantee in the OmaKela e-service.

“Students must agree with their bank on when and how they will draw down their student loan and on a schedule for paying it back. Because the loan is guaranteed by Kela, students do not have to put up any other security for the student loan,” says Miettunen.

Repayment of the student loan usually starts 6–18 months after the payment of student financial aid has ended. During your studies, the interest due on the loan is added to the loan capital, which means that the loan amount increases with the interest. After Kela has stopped paying student financial aid to you, the interest will be added to the loan capital for one more term. After that, you are responsible for paying the interest.

If you have not drawn down all student loan funds allocated for the academic year 2024–2025, you can do so before the end of July.

More information: https://www.kela.fi/students-in-higher-education 

Students will be transferred under a new housing supplement scheme on 1 August 2025. 
The majority of students can get the new student housing supplement from the beginning of the autumn term 2025. You can apply for the student housing supplement in June 2025 at the earliest. Read more about Housing benefits for students about to change in August – how will this affect you?

Student summer, jobs and income
Summer brings jobs and income - a checklist for students is now available on our website.  Check out the summer checklist.

How to apply for an interest assistance
It's time to remind alumni about the interest assistance. Application deadlines:

• Thu 5.6.2025, if the grant is paid directly to the bank
• Sun 31.8.2025 if the grant is paid to the client

Read more about the interest subsidy

In 2024, approximately 35,000 students exceeded their income limit for student financial aid. These students have until the end of April to pay back financial aid they received in 2024 if they want to avoid the recovery process that will add a 7.5% increase to the amount they owe Kela.
Kela estimates that approximately 35,000 students exceeded their income limit for student financial aid in 2024. These students can voluntarily pay back student financial aid they received in 2024 by Wednesday, 30 April 2025 at the latest. Students enrolled in higher education who voluntarily pay back student financial aid will gain back the months of financial aid they have voluntarily repaid and use them again at a later date.

“Last year, over 22,000 students returned a total of EUR 17.7 million voluntarily. We estimate that the amount of repayments will remain the same this year as the same income limits applied as in 2023,” says Ilpo Lahtinen, Senior Coordinator in Kela's Student Financial Aid Section.

Students whose income exceeds the annual limit and who do not return excess aid by the end of April 2025 at the latest will be required to pay back the aid to Kela in February 2026. At that point, an increase of 7.5% will be added to the amount that Kela will recover from these students, and the students will not be able to reuse the recovered months of financial aid.

Students can check their annual income limit in the OmaKela e-service(external site, link opens a new tab) (available in Finnish and Swedish) or by visiting Kela’s website(external site, link opens a new tab).

Student financial aid can be paid back quickly and easily
The Tax Administration provides Kela with the income data recorded in students’ pre-completed tax returns. If the preliminary tax information indicates that the student has exceeded the annual income limit, Kela will notify the student of this via text message or email at the beginning of April. Kela sends notifications to all students who have received student financial aid and given Kela permission to send them messages. Permission to send messages can be given in OmaKela.

Kela compiles a summary of the preliminary tax information for each student. This summary is available in OmaKela. Students can check the summary to see how much income they received in 2024 and pay back excess student financial aid directly.

OmaKela will tell each student which months of financial aid they can return and how much their annual income limit will increase if they voluntarily return aid for those months. Repayment can be made online immediately or by the end of April at the latest.

This is the last year students have to pay back only their study grant
The annual income limit and the voluntary repayment provision do not apply to the general housing allowance. However, students will be transferred to a new housing supplement scheme for students on 1 August 2025(external site, link opens a new tab). This means that when a student pays back student financial aid in the future, they will also have to pay back their housing supplement.

“Students will have to be particularly careful next year when checking their income and annual income limit,” says Lahtinen.

About 25,700 students receiving financial aid had income in excess of the annual income limit in 2023. They have received a preliminary decision on the recovery of overpaid financial aid. The annual income limits for student financial aid have been raised in recent years, leading to fewer cases where overpaid financial aid has had to be recovered.

About 25,700 students with income exceeding the annual limit set for 2023 have received a preliminary decision from Kela about the recovery of overpaid financial aid. The annual income limit varies according to the number of months for which a student receives financial aid. The 2023 limit for students who received financial aid for nine months was set at EUR 18,720.

The total amount of financial aid proposed to be recovered is EUR 26.3 million. The average amount that an individual student will be required to pay back to Kela is EUR 1,023. Any financial aid that is recovered is subject to a surcharge of 7.5 per cent.

According to Senior Coordinator Ilpo Lahtinen of Kela’s Student Financial Aid Section, the annual income limits for student financial aid were raised by 50 per cent in 2022 and 2023. “As a result, the number of preliminary recovery decisions on overpaid financial aid has fallen from 47,000 to 25,000,” Lahtinen says. The income limits for 2025 and 2026 have also been increased in line with indexation.

Students who receive a preliminary decision must pay back the overpaid amount to Kela by 15 April 2025, but they also have the option of contacting Kela well before the due date to agree on alternative payment arrangements. They can propose to pay back the amount being recovered in instalments or to have it withheld from another Kela benefit that they receive, in which case Kela will deduct the overpaid financial aid from the second benefit. 

“Students who receive a preliminary overpayment recovery decision can use the OmaKela e-service to set up a repayment plan, so there’s no need to take the extra step of calling Kela's customer service”, Lahtinen says.

The annual income check performed now only concerns student financial aid, i.e. study grants and housing supplements. It does not apply to the general housing allowance.

New students and recent graduates should ask for a review of the preliminary decision

In past years, around 15 percent of those who received a preliminary decision on the recovery of overpaid financial aid had either just begun their studies, had recently graduated, or had exhausted their eligibility for financial aid. Where that is the case, students may have earned some or all of their income outside the period of study, meaning that the amount they must pay back could potentially be reduced or they might not have to pay back anything at all.

Lahtinen says that students who began their studies, graduated or exhausted their eligibility in 2023 should request that the preliminary decision be reviewed.

The request must be submitted by 13 March 2025. The preliminary decision includes instructions for submitting the request.

Students must keep track of their total annual income

Students must keep track of their annual income so as not to exceed the income limit. If they see that their income is about the exceed the limit, they should cancel or return financial aid voluntarily before Kela carries out the annual income check.

Lahtinen says that if a student knows that they have gone past the annual income limit, they can return financial aid voluntarily, thereby avoiding having to pay the 7.5 percent surcharge and forfeiting aid months.

Financial aid can be cancelled, stopped or returned easily using the OmaKela e-service. The deadline for returning financial aid voluntarily for 2024 is the end of April 2025. The annual income check for 2024 will be performed at the beginning of 2026 once the Tax Administration has finalised the tax information for 2024 and released it to Kela.

Students enrolled in higher education who are studying towards a degree and who have registered as attending must pay a student healthcare fee to Kela. The total healthcare fee for higher education students in 2025 is EUR 71.20, or EUR 35.60 for each term.

The healthcare fee for students in higher education has been confirmed for 2025. The total fee is EUR 71.20, or EUR 35.60 for each term, which is slightly lower than last year. In 2024, the healthcare fee was EUR 36.80 per term. You can pay the fee now in OmaKela (available in Finnish and Swedish only).

The due date for the spring term healthcare fee is 15 March for students who register as attending by 31 January. For students who register as attending on or after 1 February, the due date is 31 July. The due date for the autumn term healthcare fee is 15 November. You can pay the healthcare fee either just for the spring term or for the entire year at once.

You do not need to pay the healthcare fee if you have social security coverage from another EU/EEA country, Switzerland or the United Kingdom.

Always pay the fee on time

Students who are required to pay the fee will receive a letter from Kela before the due date with instructions on how to pay the fee. If you have already paid the fee, you will not receive this letter.

If you do not pay the fee by the due date, you will receive a payment reminder from Kela. You will also be charged a late fee of EUR 5. According to Mari Jaakkola, Legal Counsel at Kela’s Overpayment Recovery Centre, the most common reason for unpaid healthcare fees is that the student simply forgets to pay.

“We do understand that students have a lot going on at the beginning of term and that paying the healthcare fee can slip your mind. That is why we encourage students to pay the fee at the beginning of the year to make sure they do not forget it. Students who know that they will be attending during the autumn term as well can pay the fee for the entire year in one go,” says Jaakkola.

The healthcare fee is used to finance healthcare services for higher education students. The state finances 77% of the costs of the healthcare services offered to higher education students and the remaining 23% are financed through the healthcare fee. The Finnish Student Health Service (YTHS) provides student healthcare services for higher education students in Finland.

Additional information for customers

• Healthcare fee for students in higher education
• How to pay the healthcare fee for students in higher education
• Finnish Student Health Service (yths.fi)

There will be several changes to Kela’s benefits in 2025, affecting both benefit rates and eligibility criteria. Read on to find out if the changes affect your benefits. We will automatically adjust any benefits currently being paid to you.

The upcoming changes to social security benefits were outlined in the current Government programme. The various ministries have prepared government proposals, and these proposals have then been submitted to Parliament for review and approved. Kela’s task is to implement the legislative amendments approved by Parliament.

The pensions, disability benefits, social assistance and conscript’s allowance paid by Kela will be increased by 1.0 per cent as of the beginning of 2025 in accordance with the National Pensions Index. The child maintenance allowance will also be increased. Due to the freeze in the National Pensions Index, there will be no increases to other benefits. The index freeze will continue until 2027.

Changes to sickness benefits in 2025

The initial deductible on reimbursements for medicine costs will be increased to EUR 70 as of 1 January 2025. In 2024 it was EUR 50. The maximum annual limit on out-of-pocket medicine costs will be increased to EUR 633.17 in 2025. In 2024 it was EUR 626.94 per calendar year.

Autumn 2025 will see a trial run with so-called Kela credit (in Finnish), for the payment of annual out-of-pocket medicine costs. The trial means that credit will be extended to low-income customers who reach the annual maximum limit with a single purchase.

The calculation formula for sickness and rehabilitation allowances will change on 1 January 2025. This change will reduce the sickness and rehabilitation allowances paid to persons with an annual income of more than EUR 28,241. The changed calculation formula will also reduce the amount of partial sickness allowance.

The minimum amounts of the sickness allowance and the rehabilitation allowance will be the same in 2025 as in 2023 and 2024: EUR 31.99 per day.

The Government is proposing changes to reimbursements from Kela. These Government proposals have yet to be approved by Parliament, and the review process will continue in spring 2025.

Changes to disability benefits and benefits for pensioners in 2025

The pensions, disability benefits and front-veterans’ supplements paid by Kela will be increased by 1.0 per cent as of the beginning of 2025. In 2025, the full amount of the guarantee pension is EUR 986.30 per month.

Many recipients of housing allowance for pensioners will see a reduction in their allowance, as income and assets now have a greater effect on the allowance. The change will reduce the allowances of more than 200,000 recipients. On average, allowances will be reduced by about EUR 15.60 per month. For about 7,600 current recipients, the allowance will be discontinued altogether.

Persons who currently receive housing allowance for pensioners will be affected by the change gradually after it enters into effect on 1 January 2025. Their allowance will be adjusted the next time it is reviewed. Kela reviews the amount of housing allowance for pensioners 2 years after it was awarded or last reviewed.

The heating, water and maintenance costs taken into account in the housing allowance for pensioners will not be increased in 2025, and neither will the maximum housing costs.

Finnish national pensions will no longer be paid to other EU and EEA countries, Switzerland and the United Kingdom as of 1 February 2025. This change will also have an impact on which country is responsible for the costs of a person’s medical treatment and on whether they can receive care allowance for pensioners. Further, the change may affect the amount of national pension received by customers who now live in Finland but have in the past lived or worked in another EU or EEA country, Switzerland or the United Kingdom.

Changes to general housing allowance in 2025

There will be cuts to the general housing allowance. These cuts will reduce the housing allowance for some and for some the allowance will be discontinued altogether.

Assets will once again be taken into account when granting general housing allowance. This means that the assets of the household, such as deposits, real estate, forests and shares in a housing company, will affect the amount of the general housing allowance. However, assets such as a summer cottage in the household’s own use, shares in an undivided estate or deposits in an ASP (home saver's bonus) account will not be taken into account when determining the allowance.

Kajaani, Kouvola, Lappeenranta, Mikkeli, Pori and Vaasa will be transferred from municipal category II to municipal category III. The amount of housing allowance will be reduced for almost all recipients in these cities.

These changes will enter into force on 1 January 2025, but they will not have an impact on the amount of the general housing allowance until the next time the housing allowance is reviewed in 2025. Customers who apply for general housing allowance starting 1 January 2025 or later will be immediately affected by the changes.

General housing allowance will no longer be available for owner-occupied homes as of 1 January 2025. The change does not apply to right-of-occupancy homes or part-ownership homes. General housing allowance will continue to be available for such homes.

Students will be transferred from the general housing allowance scheme to the student housing supplement scheme on 1 August 2025. Those who live with their child or their partner’s child will not be transferred to the student housing supplement scheme, but will instead be eligible for general housing allowance as before.

Changes to unemployment benefits in 2025

In 2025, the basic unemployment allowance and the labour market subsidy will be the same as in 2023 and 2024, that is to say EUR 37.21 per day (EUR 800 per month on average).

Unemployed benefits will no longer include a supplementary amount (EUR 5.29 per day) during participation in employment-promoting services. This change enters into effect on 1 January 2025 and it applies to labour market subsidy, basic unemployment allowance, earnings-related unemployment allowance and commuting and relocation allowance. Compensation for expenses (EUR 9 per day or EUR 18 per day) will still be paid out as normal for the duration of the employment-promoting services.

Persons who live with their parents may get less in labour market subsidy. Previously, the amount of labour market subsidy could be reduced by half if the parental income exceeded a certain income limit. In 2025, the amount of labour market subsidy can be reduced to 35 per cent of the full benefit. The full amount of the labour market subsidy is granted if the parents’ income does not exceed EUR 1,781 per month in total. Any compensation for informal or family caregivers that a parent receives will no longer reduce the labour market subsidy of the unemployed person living with their parents.

Changes to social assistance and how coeliac disease is taken into account in 2025

The basic amount of basic social assistance will be increased by 1 per cent as of 1 January 2025.

Social assistance will be available for extra food expenses caused by coeliac disease as of 1 March 2025. An additional EUR 25 per month can be accepted under the Kela social assistance scheme as food expenses caused by coeliac disease. The amount will apply to each family member with coeliac disease who is 16 or older. It is intended for low-income individuals.

Changes to benefits for students and young persons in 2025

Students will be transferred from the general housing allowance scheme to the student housing supplement scheme on 1 August 2025. The housing supplement is available to students who live in rental or right-of-occupancy housing. In the future, the housing supplement will be 80 percent of the rent or the residence charge. However, the maximum rate of the housing supplement will be EUR 216, EUR 248 or EUR 296 per month, depending on the municipality in which the student lives. This change will not apply to students who live with their child or their partner’s child. They will be eligible for general housing allowance as before.

Study grant rates will not be index adjusted. Instead, the rates will stay the same as in 2023 and 2024. In 2025, the study grant paid to students in higher education who live alone is EUR 279.38.

School transport subsidy will only be available to students who are entitled to free education. The change will take effect on 1 August 2025.

The minimum age for several Kela benefits for young people will be raised. The minimum age for national pension, rehabilitation allowance, sickness allowance and guarantee pension will be raised from 16 to 18 years from the beginning of 2025. Going forward, disability pension and rehabilitation subsidy will be available only to persons aged 18 and over. The change will not affect young persons who already receive these benefits. Instead, it will affect persons born in or after 2009.

Vocational rehabilitation for young persons will increasingly be targeted at young persons who are not in school or work or who are otherwise at risk of social exclusion. However, rehabilitation can continue to be granted without a formal diagnosis of illness or disability. As a rule, participation in coaching services in connection with vocational rehabilitation for young persons (Nuotti coaching) will no longer make participants eligible for rehabilitation allowance.

Changes to benefits for families with children in 2025

There will be no increases to child benefits in 2025.

The minimum rates of daily allowances for parents and the rates of child care allowances and their income limits will not be index adjusted at the beginning of 2025. Instead, the rates of these allowances will remain the same as in 2023 and 2024.

The amounts of child maintenance allowance and child support will be increased in accordance with the Cost-of-Living Index as of 1 January 2025.

Kela monitors students’ academic progress annually. This autumn, the academic progress of some 265,000 higher education students was monitored. Based on the results of the monitoring, student financial aid will be discontinued for about 3,000 students.

Kela monitors students’ academic progress annually. Through the monitoring, Kela checks whether the eligibility criteria for financial aid are met, i.e., whether students have earned enough credits during the academic year.

This autumn, Kela monitored the academic progress of some 265,000 students. Based on the monitoring results, Kela sent a request for further information to about 14,600 students in higher education and about 5,600 students in upper secondary education.

Student financial aid will be discontinued for only 1% of the students whose progress was monitored this autumn. In total, financial aid will be discontinued for about 3,000 students. About 2,000 of them are in higher education and about 1,000 are in upper secondary education.

Student financial aid will be discontinued for students who have not earned enough credits and who have not given an acceptable reason for making slower progress. Acceptable reasons include, for instance, illness or some other difficult life situation.

Some students who were sent a request for further information did not reply. If the financial aid payments are discontinued because the student forgot to reply to a request for further information, the student can request a review of the decision to discontinue payment.

According to Anne Jääskeläinen, a financial aid coordinator at Kela, discontinuing or recovering financial aid are the final steps that Kela will take to remind students of the need to make progress with their studies. “Most students make good progress. Only a small percentage of students lose their financial aid because they cannot show a good reason for making slower progress”, she says.

Most of the students affected by the decision to discontinue financial aid will have their payments stopped as from January 2025. If payments are discontinued as of some other date, that information will be included in the decision to discontinue payment.

Kela only rarely recovers financial aid as a result of the monitoring of study progress. Financial aid is only recovered if it is discovered for example that the student has completed exceptionally few credits and has never intended to study.

Students can file a new application for financial aid after the aid has been discontinued

If student financial aid has been discontinued due to lack of progress in the studies, the student may nevertheless receive student financial aid again later on. Students can requalify for financial aid after the discontinuation of financial aid payments on condition that they subsequently earn at least the minimum number of credits required. The decision to discontinue payment includes more specific information on the number of credits required. The decision also includes information on the other forms of support that the student can apply for in place of student financial aid.

How to maintain eligibility for financial aid

If a student has an acceptable reason for making slower progress with their studies, the best way to maintain eligibility for financial aid is to reply to the request for further information from Kela. Jääskeläinen recommends students to set aside some time in their busy lives to look into their situation with Kela.

“It's important that students take the time to reply to a request for further information so as to avoid having their financial aid payments stopped”, she says. Higher education students can also cancel or return financial aid voluntarily before autumn, when Kela monitors their study progress. “It's best to contact us if something is unclear. That way we can look for the best solution together”, Jääskeläinen says.

Additional information

• Study progress
• Press release 30 September 2024: Kela has sent a request for further information on study progress to 20 000 students
• Kela on Instagram (instagram.com)

Parliament has decided to transfer students from the general housing allowance scheme to the student housing supplement scheme. Students have been eligible for general housing allowance since autumn 2017. Starting in August 2025, students will again be included in the student housing supplement scheme.

Parliament has approved the legislative changes concerning assistance with housing costs for students. Following the changes, the majority of students will be transferred from the general housing allowance scheme to the student housing supplement scheme. The changes will not concern those who live with their child or their spouse’s child. They will be eligible for general housing allowance also in the future.

For those who are transferred to the student housing supplement scheme, the payment of housing allowance will end in July and the housing supplement can be granted at the earliest starting from August. Housing supplement must be applied for separately with the notification of changes for financial aid for students. New students apply for housing supplement at the same time as other types of student financial aid.

The housing supplement will be available to students who live in rental or right-of-occupancy housing. In the future, the housing supplement will be 80 percent of the rent or the residence charge. However, the maximum rate of the housing supplement will be EUR 216, EUR 248 or EUR 296 per month, depending on the municipality in which the student lives.

Maximum amount of housing supplement in different municipalities

The entitlement to and the amount of the housing supplement will be affected only by the student’s own income. The incomes of other persons who live in the home will not affect the amount of or the entitlement to the housing supplement. Housing supplement can be granted even if the student has not previously been entitled to general housing allowance for instance due to the spouse’s or roommate’s incomes.

The student housing supplement will only be paid for months of study, unlike the general housing allowance, which has been paid throughout the year.

Housing supplement makes the benefit system for students less complicated but will reduce the amount of assistance paid to students

Since the housing supplement is part of the student financial aid, it will be easier for students to get their Kela benefits in order as they only have to apply for and consider the rules for one benefit. Students only have to keep in mind the income limits for the student financial aid, and Kela need only be notified of changes that affect the student financial aid.

Housing supplement, as well as other types of student financial aid, will only be available for months of study. The number of months of financial aid is usually 9 per year for higher education and 10 per year for other types of education. If the student does not get student financial aid for the summer months, they will also not get housing supplement for the summer months.

There will be almost 200,000 recipients of student housing supplement. That is tens of thousands more than the number of students transferred from the general housing allowance scheme to the student housing supplement scheme.

“Housing supplement will thus be paid to a larger number of persons, but for most recipients the amount of the benefit will be smaller than before. In other words, for more people, but less,” says Ilpo Lahtinen, Senior Coordinator at Kela’s Student Financial Aid Section.

The maximum amount of housing allowance available to a student who lives alone in rental housing is EUR 394 per month. The maximum amount of housing supplement is significantly smaller. If for instance a student who lives in the Greater Helsinki Area gets student financial aid and housing supplement for 9 months per year, the student’s assistance with housing costs will diminish by more than EUR 2,000 on a yearly level. Even if the assistance for housing costs will be reduced for most students, some students will benefit from the change, according to Lahtinen.

“There are also winners in this change. Housing supplement will be available for instance for persons who live with a spouse or roommate with high income. Housing supplement will also be paid to persons with higher incomes, since the income limits for student financial aid are significantly higher than the income limits for housing allowance.”

Additional information 

• The government proposal, in Finnish, on the website of Parliament: Hallituksen esitys eduskunnalle laeiksi opintotukilain ja yleisestä asumistuesta annetun lain muuttamisesta
• Housing supplement
• Follow changes to social security benefits

Kela monitors study progress annually for students in upper secondary education and higher education. Students are required to make satisfactory progress with their studies in order to get financial aid for students from Kela.

Kela has requested further study progress information from approximately 5,600 secondary school students and will do the same for about 14,600 higher education students who do not meet the minimum credit requirement for financial aid for the academic year 2023–2024. Students who have opted out of receiving paper mail from Kela will receive the request in OmaKela only. 

Students must earn an average of at least 5 credits per month of financial aid and a total of at least 20 credits per academic year in order to qualify for financial aid for students. Kela takes into account all the credits completed in higher education studies in Finland. Incomplete studies are taken into account as well. For upper secondary education, the minimum for study progress is 20 credits or ECVET points per academic year.

Students who receive a request for further information are advised to begin by checking 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 explain the reason in their reply. Acceptable reasons for slower academic progress include for instance the student’s own or a close relative’s illness, some other difficult life situation or the completing of an exceptionally extensive study module.

Read more: Kela has sent a request for further information on study progress to 20,000 students

Higher education students who study for a degree and who have registered as attending must pay a student healthcare fee. The new due date for the spring term is 15 March 2024 Kela will send a letter in advance of the due date to students who must pay the fee.

The due dates for the student healthcare fee were rescheduled at the beginning of the year. The due date for the spring term is 15 March for students who register as attending by 31 January. For students who register as attending on or after 1 February, the due date remains 31 July.

According to Mari Jaakkola, a legal counsel at Kela’s Overpayments Recovery Centre, both individual students and student organisations have asked for a later due date. “The new due dates will be good news to many students”, she says.

Because the due date was pushed back from the end of January, Kela will now have time to send a letter to the students who must pay the fee before the fee is due. In previous years, it was possible for students to register as attending up until the due date, which did not leave enough time for Kela to identify all students who must pay the fee before the fee was due. Therefore, not all students liable for the fee could be sent a letter about it.

In February, Kela will send a letter to students who have registered as attending for spring term 2024 but have not yet paid the healthcare fee. The letter reminds the student of the obligation to pay the fee and provides instructions for how to pay it. The letter can also be read in the OmaKela e-service. In the OmaKela e-service, students can also choose to receive the letter only via OmaKela.

The letter will not be sent to students who have paid the fee or who have not registered as attending.

The 2024 rate of the student healthcare fee is EUR 36.80 per term

In 2024, the student healthcare fee in higher education is EUR 36.80 per term. It is also possible to pay the fee at the same time for the spring and autumn term 2024 (EUR 73.60).

Students can now go to OmaKela to pay the fee. Students who register as attending by 31 January but do not pay the healthcare fee by 15 March 2024 will get a letter from Kela reminding them to pay it. They will also be charged a EUR 5 late fee.

The healthcare fee is used to finance healthcare services for higher education students. The State finances 77% of the costs for healthcare services for higher education students and the rest, 23%, are financed through the healthcare fee. Students who have registered as attending are entitled to use the services of the Finnish Student Health Service (FSHS).

You do not have to pay the healthcare fee if you have social security coverage from another EU/EEA country or from Switzerland or the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland

Students who have social security coverage from another EU or EEA country, from Switzerland or from Great Britain and Northern Ireland are exempt from paying the student healthcare fee for higher education students. Because Kela may not know the coverage status of individual students, some students could receive a letter from Kela reminding them of the healthcare fee even though they are not required to pay it.

Students must provide a copy of a valid European Health Insurance Card to Kela to prove that they are not required to pay the healthcare fee. Students who have social security coverage in Great Britain or Northern Ireland can send a copy of either a European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) or Global Health Insurance Card (GHIC). For more detailed instructions, see Kela’s website.

Additional information for customers

Healthcare fee for higher education students: New due dates | Our Services | Kela

Healthcare fee for students in higher education 

How to pay the healthcare fee in higher education

FAQ about the student healthcare fee in higher education