Government proposes changes to student benefits starting 1 August 2027
 

If the change enters into force, you can get a maximum of 52 months of student financial aid (opintotuki) for upper secondary education. The aid months will start to run when you start to draw down student financial aid. In addition to the financial aid granted for your upper secondary education, you may get up to 54 aid months for higher education studies. The months intended for higher education studies will not be used when you draw down student financial aid granted for upper secondary education. You may also cancel or pay back student financial aid for specific months. This will make these aid months available to you later.

The change will not affect you if you are within the scope of compulsory education or if you have the right to free education under the Act on Compulsory Education.

The change may affect you

• if you have completed a matriculation examination in free education and you then start studies at an institute of vocational education
• if you reach the age of 20 when you are in free education and your right to free education has not been extended.

If the proposed change enters into force, the provider supplement (huoltajakorotus) added to the study grant (opintoraha) will be EUR 141.63 per month for one child. If you are providing for more than one child, EUR 30 will be added to the supplement for each additional child.

Kela will grant you the correct amount of provider supplement automatically without separate application.

The change to the provider supplement is intended to enter into force on 1 October 2027.

If the proposed changes enter into force, supplementary allowance for the purchase of study materials (oppimateriaalilisä) will no longer be granted as of 1 August 2027.

If you started your studies before 1 August 2027 or if Kela granted you the allowance before that date, you can continue to get it until the end of your studies. 

The intention is to move provisions on the accommodation subsidy (majoituskorvaus) from the Act on Compulsory Education to the new Act on Student Benefits. If the change is adopted, Kela will be responsible for implementing the subsidy.

Kela could grant a higher student housing supplement (asumislisä) to cover the student’s entire rent without the 20% reduction usually made to the housing supplement. However, the housing supplement cannot exceed the applicable maximum limit for acceptable housing costs. The maximum limits for acceptable housing costs are EUR 370, EUR 310 or EUR 270 per month depending on the municipality.

The higher housing supplement will only be available to students in compulsory education. It will not be available to students who are no longer in compulsory education but who are still entitled to free education.

You can get a higher housing supplement if you meet the following requirements:

• You can only complete your studies if you live in the municipality where your school is located.
• The distance from your home to the nearest suitable school is more than 100 kilometres or your daily trips to and from school take more than a total of three hours by the fastest means of transport. A suitable school means the nearest general upper secondary school or institute of vocational education where you can complete studies that are a part of your degree and where you can be taught in Finnish or Swedish, depending on your language of instruction as it is defined in the Act on Primary and Lower Secondary Education.
• You study at a suitable school that is closest to your home or at a suitable school that you can reach the fastest by public transport or other suitable means of transport. The school must offer teaching in Finnish or Swedish, depending on your language of instruction as it is defined in the Act on Primary and Lower Secondary Education.
• You do not have the option to live in a free dormitory provided by your school.

The school will assess whether you meet the requirements for the higher student housing supplement. Kela will then make its decision based on the information it gets from your school.

If you are under 18 and you live with your parent(s), you will no longer be entitled to government guarantee for student loans if the proposed change is adopted. The change is intended to prevent persons under 18 from getting into debt.

If the proposal enters into force, interest payments on student loans will be capitalised twice instead of once. In practice, interest will be capitalised for two six-month periods, that is for a total period of one year, after your right to student financial aid has ended.

This means that you will start paying interest on the loan later than you do now. The change gives you more time to find work after graduation and prepare for the repayment of the loan.

The intention is to move provisions on the transport subsidy (matkakorvaus) paid for weekend trips from the Act on Compulsory Education to the Act on School Transport Subsidies. If the change is adopted, Kela will be responsible for implementing the subsidy.

Only students in compulsory education will have the right to school transport subsidy (koulumatkatuki) for weekend trips. It will not be available to students who are no longer in compulsory education but who are still entitled to free education. Subsidy will still be available for daily trips to and from school both to students in compulsory education and to other students who have the right to free education under the Act on Compulsory Education.

If the proposal is adopted, you can get school transport subsidy for weekend trips if you meet the requirements for a higher housing supplement. You may qualify for the subsidy even if you do not get the housing supplement. The following requirements must be met:

• You can only complete your studies if you live in the municipality where your school is located.
• The distance from your home to the nearest suitable school is more than 100 kilometres or your daily trips to and from school take more than a total of three hours by the fastest means of transport. A suitable school means the nearest general upper secondary school or institute of vocational education where you can complete studies that are a part of your degree and where you can be taught in Finnish or Swedish, depending on your language of instruction as it is defined in the Act on Primary and Lower Secondary Education.
• You study at a suitable school that is closest to your home or at a suitable school that you can reach the fastest by public transport or other suitable means of transport. The school must offer teaching in Finnish or Swedish, depending on your language of instruction as it is defined in the Act on Primary and Lower Secondary Education.

The school will assess whether you meet the requirements for the school transport subsidy for weekend trips. Kela will then make its decision based on the information it gets from your school.

The school transport subsidy for weekend trips will be calculated on the basis of the distance travelled in kilometres, not actual travel costs. The subsidy will be granted for one calendar month at a time, and it will not exceed EUR 300 per month.

According to the proposal, the amount of student loan compensation (opintolainahyvitys) will depend on whether you complete your degree within the target time (tavoiteaika) or the extended target time (määräaika). The target time means the time in which you should aim to complete your degree. The extended target time is the target time plus a standard extension that depends on the degree you are completing.

If you complete your degree within the target time and have a student loan that qualifies you for the compensation, the student loan compensation will be 45% of the amount of the loan that exceeds EUR 8,000.

If you complete your degree within the extended target time and have a student loan that qualifies you for the compensation, the student loan compensation will be 30% of the amount of the loan that exceeds EUR 8,000.

According to the proposal, at most EUR 850 of student loan per aid month will be taken into account when calculating the student loan compensation if you have completed a degree in a Finnish institution of higher education. At most EUR 1,000 of loan per aid month will be taken into account if you have completed a degree in a foreign institution of higher education. However, the maximum amount of student loan compensation available to a single student is EUR 7,000.

The proposal also involves changes to the calculation of the time taken to complete a degree. If you have accepted a school’s offer of admission but have registered as non-attending for the first academic year for an acceptable reason listed in the Act, the time taken to complete the degree would be calculated from the beginning of the academic term when you first registered as attending.

You will be covered by the proposed new model for student loan compensation if you start the studies that qualify you for student loan compensation on or after 1 August 2027. The new starting point for calculating the time taken to complete a degree will apply if you graduate on or after 1 August 2027. They may also apply to you if you have already accepted a study place but will graduate on or after that date. 

If the proposal passes into law, a medical condition can also be considered an acceptable reason for a delay in studies if the student can present a medical certificate. Currently, a medical condition can be taken into account only if the student has received sickness allowance.

In terms of assistance with student loan interest (interest assistance, korkoavustus) payable for the interest period that covers the first half of the year, your income will be reviewed for the period from August to November of the previous autumn. In terms of interest assistance payable for the interest period that covers the second half of the year, your income will be reviewed for the period from February to May of the previous spring.

Interest assistance is mostly paid directly to the bank. If the proposal enters into force and you have the right to interest assistance, you will not usually have to make interest payments to your bank first. Instead, Kela will pay the interest due to the bank at the right time.

These changes to interest assistance are proposed to enter into force on 1 January 2028.