How many months of student financial aid can you get?

If you are enrolled in an institution of higher education, you can usually get 9 months of student financial aid in each academic year from September to May. You can also apply to be paid financial aid for a longer or shorter period of time. If you study during the summer, you can apply to be paid financial aid during the summer months. In Finland, the academic year begins on 1 August and ends on 31 July.

You can get student financial aid starting from the first month in which you actively study for at least 18 days. When you finish your studies, you will still be paid financial aid for the last month in which you have 18 days of active study. Weekends and mid-week holidays are included in the number of days of active study.

How many months of financial aid can you get?

If you are completing a degree in higher education, the number of student financial aid months you can get depends on the scope of your degree programme and when you began your first course of study in higher education. Your course of study is considered to have begun when you first registered as attending in an institution of higher education.

You can calculate the maximum aid period available to you like this:

• Completing 60 credits or one academic year gives you the right to 9 months of financial aid.
• Completing 30 credits or half an academic year gives you the right to 5 months of financial aid if you have completed a full academic year before this or will complete a full academic year after this.
• An additional 3–10 months of financial aid will be added to this amount depending on when you began your first course of study in an institution of higher education.

Financial aid months mean the months for which you are paid either the study grant or the housing supplement for students or both. If you select Tukikuukaudet (Student financial aid months) in the OmaKela e-service (available in Finnish and Swedish), you can see how many months of student financial aid you have already used during your higher education studies and how many months you still have left. You can see these numbers under Tukikuukaudet (Student financial aid months) if you have been paid student financial aid in the current year or in the past 2 years.

Any financial aid you are paid while enrolled in upper secondary education does not affect the number of financial aid months you can get for your studies in institutions of higher education. The reverse is also true: any student financial aid you are paid while enrolled in higher education does not affect the number of financial aid months you can get for upper secondary education.

The number of financial aid months available for studies at a university of applied sciences

You can initially get financial aid for the target duration of the degree you are studying for at a university of applied sciences. If you do not complete your degree within the regular completion time but you still have financial aid months left, you can apply to be granted these remaining months of financial aid in OmaKela (available in Finnish and Swedish). The earliest that you can get financial aid is from the beginning of the month in which your application arrived at Kela.

Number of financial aid months available for studies at a university when you are enrolled to complete both a first-cycle degree (bachelor’s degree) and a second-cycle degree (master’s degree)

If you are enrolled in a university to complete both a first-cycle degree and a second-cycle degree, you initially get financial aid for the duration of the first-cycle degree. You can get financial aid for the second-cycle degree only after you have completed the first-cycle degree.

Even though you are granted financial aid separately for these two degrees, you can only get financial aid for the combined maximum aid period allocated for both degrees. This means that if you use a lot of financial aid months to complete the first-cycle degree, you will have fewer months of financial aid left to use towards the second-cycle degree.

Conversely, if you use few months of financial aid to complete the first-cycle degree, you have the maximum number of financial aid months available for the second-cycle degree. However, any months of financial aid left over from the first-cycle degree do not increase the maximum aid period available for the second-cycle degree.

The number of financial aid months available for the second-cycle degree can be determined only after you have completed the first-cycle degree.

Number of financial aid months available for studies at a university when you are enrolled to complete only a first-cycle degree or a second-cycle degree

Financial aid in the summer months

You can be paid financial aid in the summer if you study during the summer months. You qualify for financial aid if you, for example, attend lectures, complete exams, participate in on-the-job-training or work on your thesis.

Please note that if you are paid student financial aid during the summer months, those months will be deducted from the total number of financial aid months available to you. Student financial aid paid during the summer months will also be taken into account in your income check and in the monitoring of your study progress.

How to apply for financial aid for the summer months

1. Apply for financial aid for the summer months in the OmaKela e-service (available in Finnish and Swedish) by submitting a notification of changes. We recommend that you apply for financial aid for the summer months as early as possible because the earliest you can be paid student financial aid is from the beginning of the month in which your application arrived at Kela. Do not state what studies you intend to complete during the summer in your application as this will slow down the processing of your application.

2. Visit OmaKela to see if your application has been decided, how much financial aid you will get and when it will be paid. You will also see reminders to submit any missing supporting documents.

If you cannot use OmaKela, send your application to Kela by post. Save the form Notification of changes – Financial aid for students OT 15e (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 intend to complete more than one course of study in higher education

If you continue your studies in higher education after you have completed your first higher education degree, you may be able to get financial aid for your new studies as well. You cannot, however, get as many months of financial aid for your new studies as you could for your first course of study as a total aid period applies to all your studies in higher education.

If you cannot complete your degree within the maximum aid period

If you could not complete your degree within the maximum aid period available for the degree, we can grant you an extension to your financial aid period. This extension is either a maximum of 9 months of additional financial aid or what remains of your total aid period if it is less than 9 months. The total aid period refers to the total number of financial aid months you can get for your studies in higher education.

Read more about how and on what conditions you can be granted an extension to your student financial aid period.

Remember to keep track of your income and study progress

When you are paid student financial aid, you must keep an eye on your income. In addition to your income, we will monitor your study progress. If you notice that your income in a given year exceeds your annual income limit or you are progressing more slowly in your studies than you should, you can cancel or pay back student financial aid. Alternatively, you can also apply to be paid financial aid in only some months of active study.