Cancelling or paying back financial aid in higher education
You can cancel student financial aid granted to you in advance or pay back financial aid that has already been paid to you when you wish to
- raise your annual income limit
- reduce the number of months of financial aid taken into account when monitoring your study progress
- set aside for later use months of financial aid available for higher education study.
You can choose for which months you will cancel or pay back financial aid. However, you must cancel or pay back both the study grant and any housing supplement paid to you. You should first pay back your student financial aid for those months in which you received the smallest amount of aid.
When you cancel or pay back financial aid, the number of months of financial aid you have used up decreases and the annual income limit is increased regardless of why you cancel or pay back financial aid.
When can you pay back financial aid?
Financial aid that you have been paid for the previous year must be paid back at the latest by 30 April. If you for instance wish to pay back financial aid for 2025, you must do that at the latest by 30 April 2026. If you have paid the financial aid back too late or if you have repaid only part of the aid amount for a certain month, your repayment will be returned to you and the number of months of financial aid you have used up will not change.
If you wish to reduce the number of months of financial aid taken into account when monitoring your study progress, the deadline for repayment is different, however.
Examples of cancellation and repayment of student financial aid
Siiri notices in October that she will exceed the annual income limit. Siiri cancels in advance the study grant and housing supplement for December, and this raises the annual income limit sufficiently.
In 2025 Leevi received study grant for nine months (from January to May and from September to December) and housing supplement for four months (from September to December). His income limit is EUR 20,127. Early in 2026 Leevi notices that he has earned EUR 23,000. Leevi pays back financial aid for two months (January and February), in which months he has received a smaller amount of financial aid because he has not received housing supplement in those months. Because he pays back financial aid, the annual income limit is raised sufficiently.
If you cancel financial aid beforehand, you cannot take out a student loan for the cancelled months or withdraw loan instalments with a disbursement date later than the date on which your financial aid was cancelled or discontinued. Read example of such a situation.
If you earn more during a calendar year than the annual income limit allows, we will have to recover financial aid from you with an increase of 7.5%. In such a case, the month for which financial aid was recovered is also not restored to you for later use.
How to cancel or pay back financial aid
Cancel or pay back financial aid in the OmaKela e-service (available in Finnish and Swedish) with a notification of changes concerning student financial aid under Ilmoita muutoksista (Report changes).
If you cannot use OmaKela, send your application to Kela by post. Save the form Notification of cancellation, withdrawal or repayment of student financial aid OT 16e (PDF) to your device and fill it in after saving it. Print out the completed form and send it and any supporting documents to Kela, PL 10, 00056 KELA.
If you return financial aid payments in the OmaKela e-service, you can make the repayment immediately through your online bank. If you wish to return the payments later, you will find repayment details in the OmaKela e-service.
If you prefer to use a form in PDF format, you will be mailed a payment form that you can use to return payments of financial aid. Remember to quote the reference number stated on the payment form.
If the deadline is about to expire and you cannot make the repayment in the OmaKela e-service (available in Finnish and Swedish), you can make the repayment as an ordinary bank transfer instead.
- Check the amount to be repaid by calling our customer service number 020 634 2550.
- In the message field for the payment, write "Repayment of financial aid on own initiative" and your name, personal identity code, the year and the month(s) for which you are repaying aid (for instance “March 2024”).
- Pay into the following account of Kela's Overpayment Recovery Centre: FI06 5000 0120 4657 77 / Osuuspankki (BIC code OKOYFIHH).
Pay the same amount that you received originally.
Once you have repaid financial aid, you may no longer cancel your repayment. However, you can apply for financial aid again, but you cannot get it until the beginning of the month in which we receive your application. For example, if you return the study grant paid to you in December, it can only be reinstated to you for December if your application reaches Kela by 31 December at the latest.
We will report the study grant that you have paid back to the Tax Administration, and the amounts will be taken into account in your taxation. You do not have to notify the Tax Administration of the financial aid that you have paid back.
If some other Kela benefit has been recovered from you and it has been deducted from your financial aid payments, you will still have to pay back the total financial aid for one or several months. The amount that you have to pay back will thus not be reduced by the amount used for the recovery of the other benefit.
Special situation as regards renewed payment of financial aid for reinstated month of financial aid
Check in OmaKela (available in Finnish and Swedish) whether you have any months of financial aid left. In certain situations Kela does not automatically pay you financial aid that you repaid, and you must apply for it separately. Apply for financial aid that you have repaid again as additional financial aid in OmaKela with a notification of changes concerning student financial aid. Alternatively, you can complete and print out a notification of changes concerning student financial aid (form OT 15e, PDF).
If you wish to decrease the number of months of financial aid taken into account when monitoring your study progress
Do as follows:
- Pay back the financial aid for the autumn term by the end of April following the year in which you received the financial aid. For example, the deadline for repayment of financial aid paid out in the autumn term 2025 is 30 April 2026.
- Pay back the financial aid for the spring term at the latest by 10 September. For example, the deadline for repayment of financial aid paid out in spring term 2025 is 10 September 2025.