1. Residence Permit application rejected (negative decision for RP application):

• If you have not started your studies and you inform us about cancellation before starting
  your studies or during first month of your studies (until 30.9.*/31.1.**), you are entitled to a
  refund of the tuition fee that you have already paid. After this deadline tuition fee is not refundable.
  However, cancelling your study place for any other reason than residence permit
  rejection LAB University will charge you 250 EUR for the administrative costs.

• If started and received study credits from Online studies and then cancel your studies, you will lose the tuition fee.

• Note! All new degree students must enroll for their first academic year by the deadline mentioned on the acceptance letter, to activate the study right. The enrollment is compulsory, even if you are still waiting for the residence permit decision.

LAB has scheduled an arrival deadline for each semester. If your arrival is delayed, you are not able to start your studies together with your intake group, we recommend in these situations that you should start your studies with next intake group. This also means that you can arrive to Finland when your studies start. If missing the arrival deadline, you must contact the tutoring teacher before orientation and inform LAB.scholarship@lab.fi about the delay.

If you have agreed with the schlarship team on saving your tuition fee payment for a certain future semester, you must inform about a possible cancellation during the first month of that semester (by 30.9.* /31.1.**). A refund of the deferred tuition fee is only possible with a negative residence permit.

Cancelling or postponing your study place If you have arrived in Finland by student visa

• If you have arrived in Finland by student visa, tuition fee is charged regardless of you have started your studies or not. If you cancel your study place after arriving in Finland, tuition fee is not refundable.

If you have arrived to Finland with a student visa, you must enroll as attending and start your studies as advised in your letter of admission. Immigration office (Migri) has access to our database and they check your study progress. As an attending student the tuition fee is always running, even if you have not completed any courses.

Citizens of non-EU/EEA countries (excluding Switzerland) are required to pay the LAB tuition fee and register as attending for each academic year. Students can be exempted from payment only with certain types of Residence Permit card. First year tuition fee must be paid during LAB application process, and the payment details are defined in your admission letter. 

Please note that if you must apply for a Residence Permit and pay a tuition fee, your RP application process will be on hold until you have paid the tuition fee or are able to show the funding for it.

Note! New degree students must enroll for their study right by the deadline for accepting the study place. As a new student you must also enroll for courses on time, even if there is no certainty of a residence permit. Enrolling for courses has no effect on refund.

Please, make your payment via Flywire following the deadlines on your admission letter. The payment is to be made in one installment. When paying via Flywire, you can print the receipt of the payment yourself in the Flywire portal. We do not send an additional confirmation of payment received via Flywire.

If it is not possible to use Flywire, you can make your payment via bank transfer.

• Account owner: LAB University of Applied Sciences Ltd.
• Bank name and address: OP Corporate Bank plc Helsinki, Finland
• IBAN: FI25 5000 0120 4424 46
• BIC (SWIFT) -code: OKOYFIHH
• Message to payment: Student’s full name, study program, study place (city)
  • For example: Andy Applicant, International Business, Lahti

It is crucial to provide the student’s name in the message, especially if someone else is making the payment on the student’s behalf. LAB UAS needs this information to identify the payment and connect it to the right student. 

The amount of tuition fee payment is stated on your admission letter. The yearly fee for the upcoming academic years will be based on your intake year’s Tuition fee. Possible scholarships (granted later) may affect your yearly payment. The tuition fee payment is a Tax-free service, VAT 0 %.

Kindly note that we only have access to our own account in the OP bank. Therefore, we cannot see or trace any international transactions before the money appears in LAB’s account. We also do not have a direct hotline for OP bank or the resources to trace individual payments. If the payment is interrupted along the way, the applicant/student is always responsible for contacting the bank and figuring out the status of the payment. Once OP bank has received the payment from the sending bank, they transfer the payments to LAB’s account with a short delay.

1. Refunds can only be paid to the original payer. If someone else has made the payment on the student´s behalf, possible refund will be paid to the same party.
2. Refunds are only possible until 30.9. (Autumn semester payments) and 31.1. (Spring semester payments). After these deadlines, tuition fee is not refundable.
3. Refunds from previous academic years are not possible.
4. The first-year tuition fee is processed as a whole, and semester-based refunds are not possible.
5. You are NOT entitled to a refund, if you have completed any credits (even online) in that payment period. (Exception: Completion of the orientation course lab@key does not affect the refund of the payment.)
6. If you cancel your study place for ANY other reason than a negative residence permit decision, LAB University of Applied Sciences will charge you 250 EUR for the administrative costs.
7. If you cancel your study place after arriving in Finland tuition fee is not refundable.
8. If not being able to fulfil the requirements for the conditionally admitted students, you will lose your right to study and will receive a refund for the tuition fee that you have paid. However, LAB will charge you 250 EUR for the administrative costs.

LAB has set an arrival deadline for each semester. If your arrival is delayed from the scheduled time, you cannot start your studies during the ongoing semester.

If your arrival is delayed due to a delay in residence permit or you are absent for statutory reasons, you can resign, or you must postpone the start to the next possible intake. You must contact the tutoring teacher before orientation and inform LAB.scholarship@lab.fi about your situation.

• If you have postponed the start to the next possible intake, we will save your tuition fee for the next intake period. You can postpone the payment and the start of your studies only once.
• If you want to apply for a refund you must apply for it by 30.9. (or 31.1) by contacting LAB.scholarship@lab.fi
• A refund of a previously deferred payment is only possible with a negative residence permit and must be applied for during the postponing period. A refund is not possible later.
• When postponing the start, the student will be registered as non-attending, but the normative study time is still running.
• During the postponing period, the student may not complete any studies, even online.
• If you have arrived in Finland with a student visa, you must enroll as attending and start your studies as advised in your letter of admission. As an attending student the tuition fee is always running, even if you have not completed any courses. Postponing the start and payment is NOT possible if the student has already arrived in Finland.
• If you arrive in Finland during your postponing period, please note that your studies will be considered to have started and the tuition fee will start to run, even if not completed any studies.

From 1.12.2024*tuition fees do not concern those non-EU/non-EEA/Switzerland students who have one of the following permits:

• A permanent residence permit card in Finland, (type P)
• EU residence permit for third-country citizens with long-term residence permit card in Finland (type P-EU)
• EU family member's residence card in Finland. You must hold the residence permit yourself, i.e. being a family member of a person who has a residence permit in an EU country does not grant you a tuition fee exemption.
• EU blue card in Finland
• Brexit residence permit card, type SEU-or P SEU
• Residence permit based on temporary protection in Finland, as referred to in the Aliens Act. The permit has to be valid at the beginning of the study right, and the permit cannot have later been revoked.
• Erasmus Mundus scholarship holders and those who are studying in the Erasmus Mundus programme funded by the European Union. 

Additionally, an A-type continuous residence permit MAY exempt you from the fees

• If your first residence permit in Finland was granted for the purpose of studying, you must pay tuition fees, even if you later obtained a continuous residence permit (type A) on other grounds.
• If you have a continuous residence permit (type A) based on family ties in Finland, and your family member originally came to Finland on a residence permit granted for studying, you are also required to pay tuition fees. If your continuous residence permit (type A) is based on family ties in Finland, and your family member is a Finnish citizen, you will be exempted from tuition fees.
• If your continuous residence permit (type A) is granted for studying, you are required to pay tuition fees.
• The obligation to pay for the academic year ends when the person receives a permanent residence permit (P permit).

*The change applies to persons who receive a residence permit on grounds other than studies on or after 1 December 2024, regardless of when the studies have started. Persons who have been exempted from the tuition fees due to a change in the residence permit basis before 1.12.2024, will retain their previously granted right to exemption.

Changes on the permits after applying to school

If you have a Finnish residence permit card allowing you to get exempted from paying the tuition fee during the application period but it expires before starting your studies, you are required to pay the tuition fee.

If you have already paid the tuition fee but have a Finnish Residence Permit Card that allows you to get an exemption, you are entitled to full refund of 100% of the semester fee that you have already paid.

• The card needs to be valid on the first day of the semester (1.8. or 1.1.)
• The card needs to be presented before the semester starts (by 31.7. or 31.12.).

Any changes on the payment status, are always counted to start from the beginning of next semester. The ongoing semester is not refundable if the exemption begins during the academic year. (Example: If you receive your P-type residence permit in October, your exemption will begin 1.1. and your payment for the Spring semester may be refunded.)

After renewing your permit card, you must e-mail a copy of your new Finnish RP card to lab.scholarship@lab.fi ASAP. When that RP Card expires and cannot be renewed, you are required to pay the tuition fee starting from the beginning of next semester.

If you have paid the tuition fee for the whole academic year but manage to graduate during the first semester, your additional semester payment is refundable by 30.9 (Autumn semester fee) and 31.1. (Spring semester fee). 

Note! You need to apply for graduation before the end of the semester if you wish to avoid the next semester tuition fee. If your official graduation exceeds the deadline of July 31 or December 31, you will have to pay the tuition fee for the next semester, with no exceptions. Please make sure all your courses are finished and thesis evaluated before the semester ends. 

First academic year

If you have accepted your study place but do not pay your tuition fee by the deadline defined in your admissions letter, you are not able to start your studies. Your study right will be closed. You may apply for restoration later by paying the tuition fee and a 50 EUR office fee. Possible discounts are not applicable in the case of restoration.

Note! If the study place is not accepted by the deadline defined in the admission letter, your study place will be permanently lost. In this case the study right cannot be restored.

Further studies

The tuition fee deadline for the future study years is May 31st / November 30th. If you have not paid your tuition fee by the deadline, you will receive a reminder. If neglecting the tuition fee payment, your study right will be closed, and you are not able to continue your studies. You may apply for restoration later by paying the tuition fee and a 50 EUR office fee.