Kela Newsletters
Year 2024
Higher education students who study for a degree and who have registered as attending must pay a student healthcare fee. The new due date for the spring term is 15 March 2024 Kela will send a letter in advance of the due date to students who must pay the fee.
The due dates for the student healthcare fee were rescheduled at the beginning of the year. The due date for the spring term is 15 March for students who register as attending by 31 January. For students who register as attending on or after 1 February, the due date remains 31 July.
According to Mari Jaakkola, a legal counsel at Kela’s Overpayments Recovery Centre, both individual students and student organisations have asked for a later due date. “The new due dates will be good news to many students”, she says.
Because the due date was pushed back from the end of January, Kela will now have time to send a letter to the students who must pay the fee before the fee is due. In previous years, it was possible for students to register as attending up until the due date, which did not leave enough time for Kela to identify all students who must pay the fee before the fee was due. Therefore, not all students liable for the fee could be sent a letter about it.
In February, Kela will send a letter to students who have registered as attending for spring term 2024 but have not yet paid the healthcare fee. The letter reminds the student of the obligation to pay the fee and provides instructions for how to pay it. The letter can also be read in the OmaKela e-service. In the OmaKela e-service, students can also choose to receive the letter only via OmaKela.
The letter will not be sent to students who have paid the fee or who have not registered as attending.
The 2024 rate of the student healthcare fee is EUR 36.80 per term
In 2024, the student healthcare fee in higher education is EUR 36.80 per term. It is also possible to pay the fee at the same time for the spring and autumn term 2024 (EUR 73.60).
Students can now go to OmaKela to pay the fee. Students who register as attending by 31 January but do not pay the healthcare fee by 15 March 2024 will get a letter from Kela reminding them to pay it. They will also be charged a EUR 5 late fee.
The healthcare fee is used to finance healthcare services for higher education students. The State finances 77% of the costs for healthcare services for higher education students and the rest, 23%, are financed through the healthcare fee. Students who have registered as attending are entitled to use the services of the Finnish Student Health Service (FSHS).
You do not have to pay the healthcare fee if you have social security coverage from another EU/EEA country or from Switzerland or the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland
Students who have social security coverage from another EU or EEA country, from Switzerland or from Great Britain and Northern Ireland are exempt from paying the student healthcare fee for higher education students. Because Kela may not know the coverage status of individual students, some students could receive a letter from Kela reminding them of the healthcare fee even though they are not required to pay it.
Students must provide a copy of a valid European Health Insurance Card to Kela to prove that they are not required to pay the healthcare fee. Students who have social security coverage in Great Britain or Northern Ireland can send a copy of either a European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) or Global Health Insurance Card (GHIC). For more detailed instructions, see Kela’s website.
Additional information for customers
Healthcare fee for higher education students: New due dates | Our Services | Kela
Healthcare fee for students in higher education
Year 2023
Congratulations on your admission! You can apply for student financial aid and general housing allowance when you start a new course of study. If you are in upper secondary education, you can also apply for school transport subsidy. If you begin studying in a Finnish higher education institution, you must pay a student healthcare fee.
You can apply for student financial aid in OmaKela as soon as you accept your offer of admission. You can apply for student financial aid even if you do not yet know where and how you will live while in school.
Use our online calculator (available in Finnish and Swedish) to check your eligibility for student financial aid and to get an estimate.
Have you inalized your living arrangements? Apply for general housing allowance
You can use the OmaKela e-service to apply for general housing allowance as soon as you have a rental agreement and you know your income for the coming autumn. General housing allowance is granted to an entire household as a whole.
You can use our online calculator (available in Finnish and Swedish) to see whether you are eligible for general housing allowance and how much you could get.
For instance, if you are studying abroad or in the Åland Islands, you may be eligible for a student housing supplement. The same application is used as for student financial aid.
Are you a higher education student? Pay the student healthcare fee in time
If you are registered as attending a Finnish higher education institution, you must pay a student healthcare fee to Kela each term on your own initiative. You pay the fee in the OmaKela e-service.
The due dates for the healthcare fee will change in 2024.
The new due date for the spring term will be 15 March, applicable to students who register as attending by 31 January. If you register as attending for the spring term on or after 1 February, the due date is 31 July. The 2024 rate of the student healthcare fee is EUR 36.80 per term. Students can pay the fee starting immediately.
You can use the services of the Finnish Student Health Service (FSHS). FSHS provides health care services, mental health services and oral health services.
Do you want to get less paper mail and speed up the handling of your Kela matters?
If you wish, you can choose to only receive decisions and letters online. Visit the OmaKela e-service to give your consent to receive letters, messages and decision notices from us electronically. You will be notified by text message or email whenever you have new documents in OmaKela. Please note, however, that some decisions and letters (e.g. decisions on school transport subsidy) are only sent as paper documents for the time being.
Additional information for customers
Were you admitted to higher education?How to apply for Kela benefits (in Finnish and Swedish)
Students in upper secondary education – How to apply for Kela benefits (in Finnish and Swedish)
Information on how to apply for housing allowance for shared housing (in Finnish and Swedish)
How to pay the healthcare fee in higher education
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The amount of the government guarantee for student loans will be increased and the number of disbursements of student loan funds will be changed. The provider supplement to the study grant will also be increased. The changes will take effect in stages during 2024.
The Parliament has approved amendments to the Act on Student Financial Aid that will result in changes to the study grant and student loans.
From the beginning of 2024, the provider supplement to the study grant will be increased by a total of 30 euros. In practice, the change will be 20 euros compared to the current amount, because a temporary increase of 10 euros has been paid to the provider supplement in 2023. The new monthly amount of the provider supplement will be EUR 141.63.
The Government also proposes that no index adjustments be made to the study grant between 2024 and 2027. As a result, the amount of the study grant would remain the same. For example, an 18-year-old student living alone would receive a study grant of EUR 279.38 per month, the same amount as before.
More student loan available in the future
Following the amendments to the Act on Student Financial Aid, the amounts of the government guarantee to student loans will be increased. The amount of the loan guarantee will be increased from EUR 650 to EUR 850 per month for students who are over 18 years old and studying in Finland. For those studying abroad, the increase will be from EUR 800 to EUR 1,000. As such, the amount of the loan guarantee will be 200 euros higher than before.
For students under 18 in upper secondary education, the amount of the guarantee will be increased from EUR 300 to EUR 400 per month, which is 100 euros higher than before.
In addition, the number of disbursements of student loan funds will change. Going forward, student loan funds will be available for students in upper secondary education in four disbursements over the academic year regardless of the duration of the studies. For courses in higher education that last a maximum of 12 months, the number of disbursements will be two instead of the current one. However, for studies that are completed entirely abroad the number of disbursements will remain the same.
The changes concerning student loans will take effect on 1 August 2024.
Additional information for customers
Financial aid for students (kela.fi)
All press releases about the changes to the social security benefits are available at the Changes to social security benefits page.
You must pay the student healthcare fee if you are studying for a higher education degree and have registered as attending for the current term. The healthcare fee covers medical care and mental health services as well as oral health services from the Finnish Student Health Services (FSHS). You must pay the fee even if you use occupational or other health services instead of the FSHS.
You are not billed for the student healthcare fee but must make sure to pay it in OmaKela for each academic term. Visit Kela’s website for information about how to pay the student healthcare fee.
The due date for paying the student healthcare fee is determined based on the date on which you register as attending.
For the spring term, the due date is 15 March provided that you have registered as attending by 31 January. If you register as attending for the spring term on or after 1 February, the due date is 31 July.
The due date for the autumn term is 15 November, assuming that you register as attending by 30 September. If you register as attending for the autumn term on or after 1 October, the due date is 31 December.
If you have social security coverage in another EU/EEA country, Switzerland, Great Britain or Northern Ireland, you do not have to pay the healthcare fee, but you must still contact Kela. However, you can use the FSHS’s services. Visit Kela’s website for information about how to proceed if you have social security coverage in another EU/EEA country, Switzerland, Great Britain or Northern Ireland.
Kela has sent a request for further information to higher education students who do not meet the minimum credit requirement for financial aid. The deadline for replies is 25 October 2023.
Kela monitors the academic progress of higher education students on a yearly basis. This is done to check that they continue to meet the eligibility requirements for financial aid. The current monitoring round focuses on academic progress in the previous academic year (1 August 2022–31 July 2023) and, where appropriate, progress during the entire course of study. The academic year is monitored as a whole, so the credits completed in any individual month are not monitored.
Kela has sent a request for further information to about 15,500 higher education students who do not meet the minimum credit requirement for financial aid. Students who have opted out of receiving paper mail from Kela will receive the request in OmaKela only. About 142,000 students received financial aid in academic year 2022–2023.
Academic progress is considered satisfactory if a student has earned on average at least 5 credits per month of financial aid, and in any case at least 20 credits over the whole academic year. Kela takes into account all the credits completed at Finnish higher institutions and the used months of financial aid. Incomplete studies are taken into account as well.
Any general housing allowance payments students get from Kela are not conditional on meeting academic progress requirements
Students are advised to reply promptly to the request for information
The last date to reply to the request for further information is 25 October 2023 and the reply can be sent in the OmaKela e-service.
Students should first check that all their credits have been entered in the study record. If data are missing from the study record, the student should ask the educational institution to enter the missing credits in the study record and mention this in the reply to the request for further information.
Students who have an acceptable reason for having made slower progress must indicate the reason in their reply. Acceptable reasons include for instance the student’s own or a close relative’s illness, other difficult life situation or completing an exceptionally extensive study module.
Financial aid payments to students who do not reply or whose reasons are not accepted will be stopped effective 1 January 2024.
Additional information for customers
The due date for payments of the autumn term healthcare fee for higher education students is 30 September 2023. However, the payment period has been extended this year, so students can pay the autumn term healthcare fee until 2 October 2023.
The due date for payments of the autumn term healthcare fee for higher education students is 30 September 2023. OmaKela will be unavailable due to a maintenance break on the due date of the healthcare fee, so students will not be able to pay the fee on that date.
It was therefore decided to extend the payment period for students so payments can be made via OmaKela on Monday 2 October 2023.
The recommendation is still to pay the healthcare fee before the due date. However, if the student pays the healthcare fee after the due date, but not later than 2 October 2023, they will not be sent a payment reminder and they will not have to pay the EUR 5 late fee.
We are sorry for any inconvenience this may cause.
Higher education students must pay a student healthcare fee to Kela. The due date for the autumn term is 30 September 2023.
All degree students registered as attending at a Finnish higher education institution must pay the student healthcare fee to Kela. The 2023 rate of the student healthcare fee is EUR 36.80 per term. Students are not billed for the fee but are expected to pay it on their own initiative in the OmaKela e-service by 30 September 2023.
“Students can already go in and pay the fee for the autumn term. If they pay it in time, Kela won’t charge them an additional fee of EUR 5,” says Vibeke Jensen, Coordinator at Kela’s Legal Services Section.
In September, Kela sends a letter to students who according to the information available to Kela have registered as attending for the autumn term 2023 but have not yet paid the healthcare fee.
Students who do not pay the fee by 30 September 2023 will get a letter from Kela reminding them of it. They will also be charged a EUR 5 late fee.
The student healthcare fee covers the services available from the Finnish Student Health Service (FSHS). FSHS provides health care services, mental health services and oral health services. FSHS also promotes the wellbeing of student communities. Read more about the FSHS services.
Students do not have to pay the healthcare fee if they have social security coverage from another EU/EEA country, from Switzerland, or from Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Students who have social security coverage from another EU or EEA country, from Switzerland or from Great Britain and Northern Ireland are exempt from paying the student healthcare fee for higher education students.
However, the student must submit a copy of a valid EHIC card (European Health Insurance Card) to Kela. For more detailed instructions, see Kela’s website.
Additional information for customers
Higher education students must pay a healthcare fee to Kela for each spring and autumn term. The fee must be paid by students who have registered as attending and who are com- pleting a higher education degree, but there are certain exceptions. For more information, see Kela’s website.
You can use the services available from the Finnish Student Health Service (FSHS). Read more about the FSHS services.
The healthcare fee must be paid on your own initiative
In 2023, the student healthcare fee in higher education is 36.80 euros per term. The fee is
paid to Kela once per term, i.e. twice a year. You are not billed for the fee but are expected
to pay it on your own initiative.
The due date for paying the student healthcare fee is determined based on the date on
which you register as attending:
- The due date for the autumn term is 30 September 2021, assuming that you register as attending by that date. If you register as attending for the autumn term on or after 1 October, the due date is 31 December.
- For the spring term, the due date is 31 January provided that you have registered as attending by then. If you register as attending for the spring term on or after 1 February, the due date is 31 July.
You can pay the fee in OmaKela. How to pay.
Note that you cannot pay the fees for autumn term 2023 and spring term 2024 at the same time, because the 2024 rate has not yet been confirmed.
Consequences of not paying the healthcare fee.
What to do if you are a foreign student in Finland
If you are enrolled in a degree programme at a Finnish higher education institution and have registered as attending, you must pay the healthcare fee. You must pay the fee even if you are studying remotely and are not based in Finland. However, you do not have to pay the fee if you have social security coverage in another EU/EEA country, in Switzerland or in Great Britain and Northern Ireland, but you must still contact Kela. Despite not paying the fee, you can use the FSHS’s services.
If you are a foreign exchange student, you are not completing a degree in a Finnish higher education institution. You do not have to pay the fee, and cannot use the FSHS’s services.
What to do if you are going on a study exchange from Finland
If you are completing a degree at a Finnish institution of higher education, have registered as attending, and go on a study exchange abroad, you must pay the healthcare fee for the duration of the study abroad. If you visit Finland during the study abroad, you can use FSHS services.
Learn more
Kela monitors the academic progress of students in higher education on a yearly basis. Students who have not made enough progress with their studies will receive a request for further information. Students who wish to reduce the number of months of financial aid taken into account when monitoring academic progress can pay back financial aid for the spring via OmaKela until 10 September 2023.
Kela monitors the academic progress of students in higher education on a yearly basis. Students have to make sufficient academic progress in order to be entitled to student financial aid. Sufficient academic progress means that the student must complete on average at least 5 credits per month of financial aid, and in any case at least 20 credits over the whole academic year.
For instance if the student has received financial aid for 9 months in the previous academic year, he or she must have completed at least 45 credits. If the number of credits is smaller than 45, the student must have earned on average at least 5 credits per month of financial aid during the entire period of study.
Students who have not made enough progress with their studies will receive a request for further information at the beginning of October.
Time to check if all the credits have been entered in the study record
When monitoring the academic progress this autumn, Kela looks at the credits completed in the previous academic year (1 August 2022-31 July 2023) and, when needed, the credits completed over the whole period of study. The academic year is monitored as a whole, so the credits completed in any individual month are not monitored.
Kela takes into account all the credits completed in higher education studies and the used months of financial aid. The monitoring of academic progress does not apply to general housing allowance payments.
Students should not delay in checking that all their credits have been entered in the study record. If data are missing from the study record, the student should ask the educational institution to enter the missing credits in the study record. In this way, the student can avoid receiving a request for further information in October.
Student financial aid for the spring 2023 can still be paid back via OmaKela in September
If the student has completed fewer credits than required, he or she can pay back financial aid for the spring term (1 January-31 July 2023) via OmaKela. The last day to pay back financial aid is 10 September 2023.
When the student pays back financial aid for the spring term, the number of months of financial aid that are taken into account when monitoring academic progress is reduced.
If the student has received financial aid both in the autumn 2022 and in the spring 2023 and has completed less than 20 credits in the previous academic year, Kela will send the student a request for further information even if the student pays back all the financial aid for the spring 2023. This is because it is no longer possible to return financial aid received in the autumn 2022.
Additional information for customers
Kela has reviewed the student loans for students who continue their studies for the academic year 2023–2024. Decisions on student loan guarantees for the next academic year have been sent to 113,278 students. The first loan disbursement can be taken out starting from the beginning of August.
Kela has reviewed the situation as regards student loans for students who continue their studies for the academic year 2023–2024. A positive decision on loan guarantee has been sent to 112,142 recipients of student financial aid and to 1,136 recipients of adult education allowance.
If the student already has a financial aid case pending at Kela, the student will receive a decision on the loan guarantee at the same time as the pending case is processed. For instance if the student has recently reported a change in circumstances that affects the financial aid, the student will receive a decision on the loan guarantee in connection with the financial aid decision.
The state guarantee for student loans is granted to the maximum amount for up to one academic year at a time. The typical loan guarantee is EUR 650 per month. Students can check the maximum amounts of the student loan, the loan disbursements, and the first and last dates of disbursement in the financial aid decision or the OmaKela e-service.
Student loans are disbursed by banks
Students must agree with their bank when and how they will take out a student loan. The decision whether to take out a student loan and how much is up to each student.
Most students take out their student loan in two disbursements per academic year. The first loan disbursement can be taken out starting from the beginning of August and the second loan disbursement from the beginning of January 2024. Any student loan funds not yet released for the academic year 2022–2023 can be taken out before the end of July.
Interest payments on student loans have increased in the previous year
According to statistics from the Bank of Finland, the average interest rate on student loans in April 2022 was 0.27% and in April 2023 2.87%. The interest payments on student loans have risen by 2.6 percentage points from the previous year.
During the period of financial aid the bank capitalises the interest payments on the student loan, which means that the amount of loan increases by the amount of the interest payments. As a consequence of the increase in interest payments, the amount of loan increases by a larger amount than before during the period of studies. For higher education students this can mean an increase in the loan capital of several thousand euros.
Students who experience difficulties in paying the interest payments on the student loans after graduating should check if it is possible to receive interest assistance from Kela. If the student is granted interest assistance, Kela can pay the interest payments on the student loan and related charges in full. The student need not pay them back to Kela.
Study grants will be index adjusted in August
Study grants will be increased in line with the national pension index as of 1 August 2023. A 4.2% increase will be made for the upcoming academic year. For students aged 18 or over who are living independently, the study grant will go up from 268.23 euros to 279.38 euros per month.
Kela does not issue separate decisions on the annual index adjustments. Students can check the amount of study grant they will get by logging in to the OmaKela e-service. The loan guarantee decision for the next academic year also shows the amount of the study grant.
Read more
Congratulations on your admission! You can apply for student financial aid and general housing allowance when you start a new course of study. If you begin studying in a Finnish higher education institution, you must pay a student healthcare fee.
You can apply for student financial aid in OmaKela as soon as you accept your offer of admission. You can apply for student financial aid even if you do not yet know where and how you will live while in school. Financial aid for students
Have you finalised your living arrangements? Apply for general housing allowance
You can use the OmaKela e-service to apply for general housing allowance as soon as you have a rental agreement and you know your income for the coming autumn. General housing allowance is granted to an entire household as a whole.
Pay the student healthcare fee in time
If you are registered as attending a Finnish higher education institution, you must pay a student healthcare fee to Kela each term on your own initiative. The due date for the autumn term payment is 30 September 2023, and you can pay the fee immediately if you wish. It is not yet possible to pay the 2024 spring term healthcare fee because the amount of next year’s fee has not been confirmed yet. Healthcare fee for students in higher education
If you are completing a higher education degree and are registered as attending, you have the right to use the services of the Finnish Student Health Service (FSHS). FSHS provides health care services, mental health services and oral health services. FSHS also promotes the wellbeing of student communities.
Students who do not have a summer job and are not eligible for other benefits can apply for social assistance from Kela for the summer months. Student financial aid, consisting of the study grant and the student loan, is the principal form of assistance available to students.
Students can get financial aid in the summer, provided that they will be studying during the summer months. Students who do not have a summer job and cannot get financial aid during the summer can apply to Kela for basic social assistance. However, students who have access to a student loan must use their loan funds before applying for social assistance.
Student financial aid is the principal form of assistance for students. This means that Kela is required to take into account all of the financial aid available to students applying for social assistance, even the student loan they are eligible for but have not taken out.
“The requirement was waived during COVID-19. Due to the uncertainty surrounding the epidemic, it was thought that finding a summer job would be more difficult than is normally the case”, says Pasi Pajula, Head of Centre of Expertise at Kela.
“Kela does not require students to take out a student loan if they cannot get one from a bank or if they cannot get financial aid for the summer months for example because they have run out of eligibility or their aid has been terminated.”
Students graduating without a job must register with the TE Services as an unemployed jobseeker and claim unemployment benefits and possibly general housing allowance before applying for basic social assistance.
Students are having to resort to social assistance due to the low level of student financial aid
Students have in recent years made the point that the level of financial aid is so low that it causes many to have to apply for social assistance, a form of emergency financial aid. Basic social assistance was paid to 33,494 students in 2022. Students represented 9.4% of all recipients.
Basic social assistance is publicly funded emergency financial assistance. Individuals and families living or residing permanently in Finland can get social assistance if their available income and assets do not cover their necessary expenses such as food and housing.
Basic social assistance is not taxed and does not count as income for student financial aid purposes.
Additional information for customers:
If you want to voluntarily repay student financial aid for 2022, you must do this before the end of April. Students can check the preliminary information on the annual income that will be taken into account for the purposes of student financial aid in the OmaKela e-service. On the basis of the preliminary information, students can determine whether they will have to repay financial aid. If the student does not repay the overpaid financial aid by the end of April, Kela will recover the overpaid amount increased by 7.5%.
Students whose 2022 income exceeds the annual limit can return overpaid financial aid payments by the end of April. The overpaid financial aid, i.e. study grant and housing supplement, must be repaid at the latest by Sunday, 30 April 2023. The annual income limit and the voluntary repayment provision do not apply to the general housing allowance.
– Last year, 30,670 students returned a total of 24.9 million euros voluntarily. We estimate that there will be less repayments this year because the income limits in connection with student financial aid were increased in 2022, says Ilpo Lahtinen, Senior Coordinator in Kela's Student Financial Aid Section.
Students whose income exceeds the annual limit and who do not return excess aid will be required to pay back the aid to Kela. In that case, the amount to be repaid is 7.5% higher than when the student repays financial aid voluntarily.
Students who are unsure what their annual income limit for 2022 has been can check the limit in the OmaKela e-service or by calling Kela’s customer service. Information on the income limits for 2022 is also available on Kela’s website.
The preliminary information on the annual incomes can be checked in the OmaKela e-service
In April, Kela receives information from the tax office on the incomes in the pre-completed tax returns. On the basis of this preliminary information, Kela provides an overview in the OmaKela e-service for students who receive student financial aid.
– In this way, we help students estimate the annual income that will be taken into account in connection with the annual income check, says Lahtinen.
Recipients of financial aid can thus check the preliminary information on the annual income that will be taken into account for the purposes of financial aid in the OmaKela e-service. If the student exceeds the annual income limit according to the preliminary information, Kela will inform the student about this via text message or e-mail.
– We remind students to check the income limit and tell them about the time limit for voluntary repayment in the message, says Lahtinen.
Kela notifies all those students who have given Kela permission to send messages. You can give Kela permission to send messages in the OmaKela e-service.
Student financial aid can be repaid in the OmaKela e-service
Financial aid payments can be returned online. Students can access the OmaKela e-service to see for which months they can return financial aid and how much their annual income limit will go up if they voluntarily return aid for those months. The voluntary repayment can be made online directly through the student’s bank. Alternatively, the student can take note of the payment details and pay back the overpaid financial aid by the end of April.
Kela notifies the tax office of the amounts of financial aid repaid
The tax office will send taxpayers a pre-completed tax return form. Repayments of financial aid received by the end of February are taken into account in the tax return. Kela will notify the tax office of the amounts of financial aid returned voluntarily between March and April. This means that students need not revise their tax return on that account. The tax office will take into account all repayments when calculating students' final tax liability.
Kela sends late payment reminders to higher education students studying for a degree who registered as attending by 31 January 2023 but did not pay the student healthcare fee by the due date.
The due date for the student healthcare fee was 31 January 2023 for students studying for a degree who registered as attending for the spring term by 31 January 2023. The total number of students required to pay the fee is approximately 275,000. Most of them, some 213,000 students, paid the healthcare fee by the due date.
About 56,000 students have yet to pay the student healthcare fee. Kela has now sent these students a late payment reminder, which includes a EUR 5 fixed late fee, which is set by law.
“Students have a lot of things to keep track of and we fully understand that they might forget to pay the healthcare fee. However, there is still time to make the payment after receiving the payment reminder,” says Emmi Lehtonen, Team Manager for the Overpayment Recovery Team for Legal Services at Kela.
Around 4,500 students paid the fee after the due date. Kela has sent them, too, a late payment reminder, but only for the late fee.
Everyone who received a letter about the student healthcare fee can also read the letter in the OmaKela e-service. Students can choose to update their information in OmaKela to go paperless, which means all their letters will be available to read in OmaKela only. The students can then choose if they wish to be notified by text message or email when a new letter is available to read in OmaKela.
The healthcare fee that higher education students must pay to Kela covers all the services available from the Finnish Student Health Service. There are no other fees for service or per-visit charges. The 2023 rate of the student healthcare fee is EUR 36.80 per term.
Read more
About 47,000 students receiving financial aid had income in excess of the annual income limit in 2021. They have received a preliminary decision on the recovery of the overpaid financial aid. The number of recipients was higher this year than it was last year.
Kela has sent out proposal letters concerning the recovery of overpaid financial aid to 46,949 students whose income in 2021 exceeded the maximum limit allowed under the student financial aid scheme. The annual income limit varies according to the number of months for which a student takes out financial aid. Students who took out financial aid for nine months in 2021 were permitted other earned income of up to EUR 12,498.
The average amount of financial aid that students are required to pay back is EUR 976. The total amount of financial aid proposed to be recovered under the preliminary decisions is EUR 45.8 million. In 2021, about 320,860 students received financial aid.
Last year, Kela sent repayment proposals to 40,946 students and this year, the number of recipients increased by 6,003 persons.
The annual income check performed now only concerns student financial aid, i.e. study grants and housing supplements. The annual income check does not concern general housing allowance.
The deadline for filing a review request is mid-March at the latest
Students who have received a preliminary decision can submit a request to Kela to review their case. The deadline for requesting a review is 16 March 2023.
Students who have received a preliminary decision should request a review if they began their course of study, graduated or used up their maximum financial aid entitlement during 2021. If the reason for exceeding the annual income limit is income earned during other periods than periods of active study, the overpayment debt may be reduced or waived altogether. The preliminary decision contains instructions for how to file a review request or agree on repayment arrangements.
In previous years, about one in five of those who were sent a repayment proposal were new or graduated students.
Kela refers to the national incomes register for its annual income check
Kela has referred to the national incomes register when checking the income of higher education students who began their studies, graduated or used up their entitlement during 2021. If it is certain, according to this check, that the income earned during the periods of active study has not been too high, Kela does not send a preliminary decision to the student.
Following the check of the data in the national incomes register, the number of preliminary decisions decreased by 4,600.
If a student who started a course of study, graduated or used up his or her maximum financial aid entitlement receives a preliminary decision, the student does not have to enclose any documentation on incomes entered in the national incomes register with the request for review.
Students must keep track of their income total
Students must keep track of their annual income so as not to exceed the income limit. The income limits were raised by 25% at the beginning of 2022 and again at the beginning of 2023. The annual income limit is now EUR 18,720 for students who get financial aid for nine months. In 2022, the annual income limit was EUR 15,630.
Financial aid can be cancelled, stopped or returned easily using the OmaKela e-service. The deadline for returning financial aid voluntarily for 2022 is the end of April 2023. If a student does not cancel or return financial aid, any overpayments of aid are recovered and are subject to a surcharge of 7.5%. This is not interest but a one-time payment.
Additional information for customers
Higher education students who study for a degree and who have registered as attending must pay the student healthcare fee on their own initiative using the OmaKela e-service. The due date for the spring term is 31 January 2023.
So far, about 56,000 students have paid the healthcare fee for spring term 2023. Some 215,000 students have yet to pay it.
During the week ending 9 January, Kela sent a letter to students who according to the information available to Kela had registered as attending for the spring term 2023 but had not yet paid the healthcare fee. The letter reminds the student of the obligation to pay the fee and provides instructions for how to pay it. The letter can also be read in the OmaKela e-service. In the OmaKela e-service, students can also choose to henceforth receive the letter only via OmaKela.
The letter will not be sent to students who have paid the fee or who have not registered as attending.
The 2023 rate of the student healthcare fee is EUR 36.80 per term
In 2023, the student healthcare fee in higher education is EUR 36.80 per term. Students can also pay the fee for both the spring and autumn term 2023 at the same time (EUR 73.60).
Students are not billed for the fee but are expected to pay it unprompted. Students who do not pay the fee by 31 January 2023 will get a letter from Kela reminding them of it. They will also be charged a EUR 5 late fee.
The healthcare fee is used to finance healthcare services for higher education students. The State finances 77% of the costs for healthcare services for higher education students and the rest, 23%, are financed through the healthcare fee. Students who have registered as attending are entitled to use the services of the Finnish Student Health Service (FSHS).
You do not have to pay the healthcare fee if you have social security coverage from another EU/EEA country or from Switzerland or the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland
Students who have social security coverage from another EU or EEA country, from Switzerland or from Great Britain and Northern Ireland are exempt from paying the student healthcare fee for higher education students.
However, the student must submit a copy of a valid EHIC card (European Health Insurance Card) to Kela. If the student has social security coverage in Great Britain or Northern Ireland, the student can send a copy of either a European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) or Global Health Insurance Card (GHIC). For more detailed instructions, see Kela’s website.
Additional information for customers
In 2023, there will be several changes to student benefits. The income limit for student financial aid, the study grant, the provider supplement to the study grant and the meal subsidy for students will all be increased. However, the healthcare fee for higher education students will also go up. A new extension criterion will also be introduced to the target time in which students must complete their degrees in order to qualify for a student loan compensation.
As of the beginning of 2023, there will be several changes to student benefits. Several benefits will be increased, and there will also be changes to the criteria for granting student loan compensation and to the healthcare fee for higher education students.
The annual income limits for student financial aid will be increased by about 20%
As of the beginning of 2023, the annual income limits for student financial aid will be raised across the board to a level about 20% higher than the 2022 level. This means that a student who gets financial aid for nine months can earn up to 18,720 euros before taxes on top of student financial aid next year. The corresponding limit for students who receive financial aid for 10 months is 16,640 euros.
No per-month income limits apply to student financial aid. Students can earn their income at any time during the calendar year as long as it does not exceed the annual income limit. An annual income limit calculator is available (in Finnish and Swedish) where students can check the annual income limit.
Study grants will be increased by 4.2% as of 1 August 2023
Study grants will be increased by 4.2% in line with the National Pensions Index. The increase will enter into force as of the beginning of the next academic year, on 1 August 2023. For students aged 18 or over who are living independently, the study grant will go up from 268.23 euros to 279.38 euros per month.
The provider supplement to the study grant will be increased by 10 euros per month
The provider supplement to the study grant will be raised by 10 euros per month for the duration of 2023. Study grants can include a provider supplement if the recipient provides for a child under 18. Provider supplements will also be index adjusted upwards on 1 August 2023. The rates of the provider supplement will go up from 107.17 euros to 117.17 euros per month starting 1 January 2023, and further to 122.05 per month starting 1 August 2023.
The target time to qualify for student loan compensation can be extended due to war
Students who complete their degree within a specified target time can get a student loan compensation. As of the beginning of 2023, it will be possible to extend the target time for earning a degree for students attending school in a country at war. The target time can be extended by one academic year.
The target time to earn a degree can also be extended by one academic year for other exceptional circumstances comparable in severity to a state of war. This can include serious mass casualty incidents or natural disasters, large-scale armed attacks, or dangerous communicable diseases that have spread widely.
More information is found in this press release
Meal subsidy increased by 0.25 euros
The meal subsidy for higher education students will be increased by 0.25 euros. The increase will bring the meal subsidy to 2.55 euros per meal. In practice this means that Kela’s share of the cost of the meal will increase, while the student’s out-of-pocket share will decrease. Under the meal subsidy programme, normal-priced unsubsidised meals may cost up to 5.50 euros. After deduction of the meal subsidy, students pay up to 2.95 euros for a normal-priced meal.
Slight increase in the healthcare fee for students in higher education
Students who are completing a degree at a Finnish institution of higher education and who have registered as attending for the term in question must pay a student healthcare fee. In 2023, the fee will increase from 35.80 euros per term to 36.80 euros per term. Students are not billed for the fee but are expected to pay it on their own initiative in the OmaKela e-service.
Students do not have to pay the healthcare fee if they have social security coverage from another EU/EEA country, from Switzerland or from Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Despite not paying the fee, they may use the services of the Finnish Student Health Service (FSHS). Students who wish to use the services of the FSHS must be prepared to show a valid European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) or a Global Health Insurance Card (GHIC) as of 1 January 2023.
More information is found in this press release
Information on most of the changes and on the new benefit rates will be published on the Kela.fi website on 1 January 2023. However, the index adjustment to the study grant will not take effect until the beginning of the new academic year, i.e. on 1 August 2023, and information on the new rates will be updated on the kela.fi website at that time.
Additional information for customers