Subsistence

Students who are of age and live independently receive a study grant of 113,57–279,38 euros per month of aid. Student aid is usually paid for 9 months in a year, but if you study during the summer, you can apply for student aid for the summer months too. If you are the guardian of a minor child, your study grant is slightly higher. The number of children you have or where they live does not affect the level of the study grant.

If you have other income in addition to your study grant, take it into account for tax purposes. Make sure that your study grant and other income are below the income limit shown on your tax card or, if necessary, order a new tax card.

The Incomes Register is a database containing your up-to-date income information. You can check your earned income as well as the taxes and fees deducted from it through the service. The Incomes Register helps you monitor your own income and the income limits of student aid, for instance.

The available number of months of student aid is limited, and the months have been split between bachelor’s and master’s degrees. The number of months of aid at your disposal depends on when you started your studies. You can check the maximum periods of eligibility here. If needed, you can apply for an extension to your student aid in case your study progress was slowed down by a particularly good reason. If you are applying for an extension for completing a bachelor’s degree, the additional months of aid will not be deducted from the months of aid reserved for your master’s degree.

Kela annually monitors the study progress of students who receive student aid. If you have received student aid, you must earn an average of 5 credits for each month of student aid and always at least 20 credits in total during the academic year. The minimum requirement of 20 credits is in effect even if you have received student aid for just one month. Kela does not monitor completed courses for individual months, which means that the decisive factor is the total number of credits accumulated throughout the year. Completing a degree always means that your study progress has been sufficient – in this case, you do not need to worry about whether you have enough credits.

When monitoring study progress, Kela takes into account all credits earned and months of student aid used in higher education studies starting from 1 August 2011 at the earliest. In other words, if you have started higher education studies that were different than your current studies after this date, Kela will take them into account when monitoring study progress. Further information on the monitoring of study progress is available on Kela’s website.

If you receive a study grant from Kela, you will also receive a state guarantee for your student loan. A student loan is a loan guaranteed by the state that you have to pay back. The student loan can be drawn down according to the number of months of support, i.e. nine months per year in principle. If you receive a student grant for the summer, you can also take out a student loan. The amount of the student loan guarantee is higher when you study abroad.

Your bank gets your information directly from Kela, but you need to apply for the loan from the bank yourself. You can apply for the loan from your own bank or compare the options offered by different banks. When comparing options, we recommend paying particular attention to the margin asked by the bank.

Student loan is not returned even when you return your study grant voluntarily. The loan is paid back after graduation. If you wish to take out a student loan but cancel the months of student aid to save them, you should first take out the loan and then cancel the desired months of aid afterwards.

Agree on the interest payable on the loan and the repayment schedule with the bank. Repayment usually begins two years after graduation. If you have problems with repayment, contact your bank well in advance. People with low income can also apply for Kela’s interest assistance for paying the interests of the loan.

If you complete your degree in target time, you may be eligible for Kela’s student loan compensation. It is only available for your first degree. When you have completed your bachelor’s degree, you should consider whether you believe you will complete your master’s degree in target time, too, and whether you should finance some of your master’s studies with the student loan or use the compensation earlier. Use Kela’s calculators to help you with the decision.

Payment default entries no longer prevent you from receiving the government guarantee, but the bank may still decide not to grant the guarantee because of the entry.

If you are enrolled in higher education and you cannot make progress in your studies because you are ill, you should consider not using your remaining student financial aid months. You have a limited amount of financial aid months. It may be a better option for you to take sick leave and get sickness allowance instead.

Students’ housing is supported by a housing supplement for study grants. You can get a housing supplement if you are entitled to student grant and live in rented or subsidised accommodation. The supplement is personal, even if you live with a spouse or a flatmate. The housing supplement is linked to the number of months of study grant you receive, which means that if you receive a housing supplement, you will also use up months of study grant.

The student housing supplement has different categories of municipality, so the amount of the supplement depends on your municipality of residence. The amount of the supplement is up to 80% of the rent or the rent of the right-of-occupancy dwelling. The amount of your allowance is lower if you live in a flat owned by your parents or rented from them.

Income is monitored in the same way as for student grants in the case of the housing allowance. For study support, there is an annual income limit depending on the number of months of study support you have withdrawn. You must remember to repay or cancel the entire grant if you are about to exceed your annual income limit. The housing allowance is tax-free, i.e. it is tax-free income.

If you live with your own or your spouse’s children or on a benefit other than study allowance, you are covered by general housing allowance. General housing allowance is available all year round and is not linked to the number of months of study allowance. However, please note that general housing allowance is a household benefit and you must inform Kela if your income changes.

If you are in receipt of the student housing supplement, you will not be eligible for the general housing supplement even in the summer if your studies continue in the autumn.

You can also get a housing supplement to cover the cost of living abroad, for example during an exchange. However, you cannot receive a housing supplement for an apartment in Finland at the same time.