Study progress in upper secondary school and vocational education
On this page
You must make sufficient progress with your studies in order to get financial aid for students. You are making sufficient progress if the time you use for your studies does not exceed the time of student financial aid.
Kela monitors your study progress annually. If you do not make sufficient progress with your studies, we will send you a request for further information, and by replying to the request you can tell us why your study progress is slowed.
If you do not reply or if the reasons you set out cannot be accepted, we may have to discontinue your financial aid or restrict its availability to a specific period of time.
How Kela monitors your study progress
If you are completing a vocational upper secondary qualification or the general upper secondary school curriculum, we will check in September every year if you have made sufficient progress with your studies.
When monitoring your study progress, we consider the credits you have earned in the previous academic year. If you are completing a double degree, we will consider the credits you have earned from both courses of study.
Example of the monitoring of study progress
Eetu is completing a vocational upper secondary qualification. In September 2026, Kela monitors Eetu’s progress during the academic year 2024-2025, taking into account the ECVET points earned between 1 August 2024 and 31 July 2025. If we consider that Eetu will not graduate in four years, we will ask him for further information on his study progress.
If you pursue other upper secondary studies than upper secondary school or vocational education, your school will monitor your study progress. If you are not making sufficient progress, your school will notify Kela.
Acceptable reasons for slowed study progress
In some cases, there may be an acceptable reason for the slowed study progress. Such reasons include for instance
- an illness suffered by yourself or by a close family member
- other difficult personal circumstances
- completing an exceptionally extensive study module.
If you have made slower progress because of an acceptable reason, you may still continue to receive financial aid.
How to reply to a request for further information
This is what to do if you get a request for information about your study progress:
- Check that all the courses you have completed have been entered into your study record at the educational institutions where you have studied.
- Reply to the request in OmaKela. Log in to OmaKela (available in Finnish and Swedish) and go to the reply form under Ilmoita muutoksista (Report changes).
- Tell us if courses that you have completed are missing from the study record.
- Tell us why your studies have not progressed sufficiently.
- If you need to send supporting documentation with your reply, send the documents in OmaKela under Lähetä liite (Send supporting documents).
If you cannot use OmaKela, send your reply to Kela by post. Save the form Reply to the request for information about academic progress in upper secondary education OT 31e (PDF) to your device and fill it in after saving it. Print out the completed form and send it and any supporting documents to the address Kela, PL 10, 00056 KELA.
Check the credits you have earned
Check the credits you have earned and notify us of situations described in the following when you reply to the request for information.
If you have a partially completed study module (e.g. study unit in a vocational qualification) that does not yet show in the study record, tell us about it in your reply. You do not need to enclose a certificate from the school with your reply.
If you have failed some studies, enclose a certificate from the school concerning them with your reply.
If you have completed studies during a study exchange period abroad that have been recognised as counting towards your Finnish general upper secondary studies, include documentation from your school showing the recognised studies.
If you studied to complete a specific module between 1 August and 31 July that was not entered into the study record until after 31 July, reply to the information request and list the studies you completed. You do not need to enclose a certificate from the school with your reply.
If you have participated in matriculation examination tests, tell us about it in your reply. You do not need to enclose a certificate from the school with your reply.
If courses you have completed are missing from your study record, ask your school to add the missing courses to the record. Also tell us about it in your reply. You do not need to enclose a certificate from the school with your reply.
Explain why you have not made enough progress with your studies
If the reason you have not earned enough credits is for instance illness or a difficult life situation, you should explain in your reply how your circumstances have affected your study progress. Also tell us if this situation is still currently affecting your studies.
What happens if you do not reply to the information request?
If you do not reply or if the reasons you provide for your lack of study progress cannot be accepted, we may have to discontinue your financial aid. If it is necessary to monitor your study progress, we may have to change your financial aid to be paid out for a specified period of time only.
We may also require you to pay back financial aid if you have earned particularly few credits and you never intended to study, for instance if you are working instead.
Financial aid for a specified period of time or discontinuation of financial aid
Financial aid payable for a specified period of time only
If we consider it necessary to monitor your study progress, we may change your financial aid to be paid out for a specified period of time only. You will need to earn enough credits during this period in order to be eligible for financial aid after it ends.
You will receive a decision on student financial aid payable for a specified period of time only, including information on how many credits you have to earn within the specified time. You will not get financial aid automatically after the specified time period. Instead you will have to apply for it again.
If you do not earn enough credits during the specified period of time, we will not be able to grant you financial aid after that.
However, even if you have not earned enough credits within the specified time period, you may be able to re-qualify for financial aid if your study progress was slowed due to an acceptable reason. Provide information about the reason for the slowed study progress when you apply for financial aid.
Discontinuation of financial aid
If you do not reply to the request for information or if we cannot accept your reason for making slower progress, we will have to discontinue your financial aid as from 1 January.
You can get student financial aid again when you again make sufficient progress with your studies. The decision you get shows the required number of credits.
You must apply if you want to get financial aid again after it has been discontinued.
You can also re-qualify for financial aid after it has been discontinued if you have an acceptable reason why you did not meet the minimum requirement for study progress after the discontinuation. Apply for financial aid again and explain in the application why your study progress is slowed.
How to file a new application for financial aid after the discontinuation
- Make your new application for student financial aid with a notification of changes in OmaKela (available in Finnish and Swedish).
- In OmaKela, you can see if your application has been decided and how much you will get.
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 the address Kela, PL 10, 00056 KELA.
You can get financial aid again from the beginning of the month in which you earned the required number of credits. However, student financial aid can be granted at the earliest from the beginning of the month in which we receive your application.
Your student financial aid can be discontinued with retroactive effect, if you have earned extremely few credits and you never intended to study, for instance if you are working instead. Discontinuation with retroactive effect means that your financial aid is discontinued starting from an earlier date.
This may mean for instance that we in February 2026 issue a decision whereby we discontinue the financial aid starting from 1 September 2024. In such cases, you will usually have to pay back financial aid that you have already been paid.
We will tell you in the request for further information if we are considering whether to discontinue your financial aid with retroactive effect.
However, the monitoring of study progress seldom results in the retroactive discontinuation and recovery of financial aid.
What else is going on in your life?
Are you struggling with your studies?
If your studies are not progressing as planned, contact your educational institution’s student advice services and student health services for help and advice. You might also benefit from rehabilitation offered by Kela.
Did you fall ill?
If you have to take a long sick leave, consider applying for sickness allowance instead of using your student financial aid months. You need a medical certificate to qualify for sickness allowance.
Are you unable to study due to illness or issues with your mental health?
If your daily life is a struggle due to illness or issues with your mental health, you can get help. Find out what kind of rehabilitation and financial assistance you can get.