The national social insurance institution-Kela asked about 28,000 students to repay the overpaid student financial aid for 2024 by April 15 this year, said Kela in a press release on Tuesday.
The total amount of overpaid student financial aid proposed to be recovered is EUR 30.7 million.
The students need to pay student financial aid back to Kela because their income exceeded the annual income limit for student financial aid.
The annual income limit varies based on the number of months for which the student is paid student financial aid. For example, if the student was paid student financial aid for 9 months in 2024, their annual income limit was EUR 18,720.
The average amount that a student will have to pay back to Kela is EUR 1,087. Kela applies a surcharge (increase) of 7.5% to overpaid student financial aid that it recovers from recipients.
“This year, we will be sending preliminary decisions to about 2,500 more students than we did last year. However, this is not all that many more students than last year, and students are usually very aware of their income limits,” said Else Turtiainen, Coordinator in Kela’s Student Financial Aid Group.
The students, who will get a preliminary decision from Kela on the recovery, need to pay the amount to Kela by 15 April 2026 at the latest.
The students can contact Kela to agree on a payment plan to pay in instalments or to set the debt off against benefits paid by Kela.
Some of the students who received a preliminary decision on the recovery of overpaid student financial aid may have begun their studies, graduated or used up the last of their student financial aid in 2024.
The students were recommended to ask Kela to review its preliminary decision. The preliminary decision includes instructions on how to submit a request for a review.
If the students earned some or all of their income in 2024 before or after period of study, Kela may adjust the amount they have to pay back or might not have to pay back anything at all.
Students must keep track of their annual income to make sure they do not exceed their income limit. If students realise that their annual income is about the exceed the limit, they should cancel or pay back student financial aid of their own volition before Kela recovers overpaid student financial aid from them.
“If you notice that you have already exceeded your income limit, we recommend that you pay back student financial aid of your own volition or cancel financial aid payments in the rest of the year. If you do this, you will not have to pay the 7.5% increase we charge when we recover overpaid benefits, and you free up financial aid months for later use if you are in higher education,” said.
Students can choose the months for which they pay back student financial aid. The majority of students started getting the student housing supplement from the beginning of August 2025. That is why Kela recommends that students pay back student financial aid they got in the first half of 2025 because they will have to pay back less.
The deadline for paying back student financial aid of their own volition for 2025 is 30 April 2026.
Kela will conduct the annual income check for 2025 at the beginning of 2027.
- Kela
- Students
- Overpaid benefit
Source: www.dailyfinland.fi
