The national social insurance institution-Kela sent a request for further information to about 6,000 upper secondary students and 15,200 higher education students who do not meet the minimum study credit requirement for financial aid for the academic year 2024–2025, said Kela on Friday.
A total of about 284,00 students received student financial aid in the previous academic year.
This means that only about 7,5 per cent of all students will be asked to explain their lack of progress.
Kela monitors the study progress of students in upper secondary education and higher education on a yearly basis. Students are required to make satisfactory progress with their studies in order to get financial aid for students and housing supplement from Kela.
“It is understandable for students to sometimes have problems with their studies and not make progress at the planned pace. If a student receives a request for further information from Kela, they should respond to it and tell Kela why their studies have slowed down,” said Legal Counsel of Kela’s Student Financial Aid Section Linda Reinikainen.
She further clarified that students generally make good progress in their studies.
Students in higher education must earn an average of at least 5 credits per month of financial aid and a total of at least 20 credits per academic year in order to qualify for financial aid for students.
For students in upper secondary education, the minimum study progress required is 20 credits or ECVET points per academic year.
If a student has received a request for further information about their study progress, the first thing they should do is check whether all their study credits have been properly entered into their study record. If data are missing from the study record, the student should ask their educational institution to enter the missing credits in the study record and mention this in their reply to Kela.
In addition to missing credits, there are other acceptable reasons for a lack of study progress.
Acceptable reasons for a slower study progress include for instance the student or someone close to them falling ill, a difficult life situation or working on an exceptionally extensive study module. Students who are facing any of these challenges should tell Kela about it in their reply.
The deadline for the upper secondary students to reply to the explanation was Friday while higher education students need to respond by 25 October.
If a student does not reply to the request for further information or if the reasons presented in their reply are not accepted, Kela will stop paying them student financial aid and housing supplement as of 1 January 2026.
Reinikainen said that the changes made to student housing benefits in August 2025 mean that study progress now also affects a student’s housing benefits.
“Not responding to it, or not presenting an acceptable reason for the lack of study progress, may lead to Kela stopping the payment of the student’s financial aid and housing supplement. This means that students should respond to the request as soon as possible so that they do not forget to do so and lose their benefits at the start of the next year,” Reinikainen added.
If Kela stops the payment of a student’s financial aid and housing supplement, the student can apply for it again once they have made enough progress with their studies.
- Kela
- Asks
- Explanation
- 21
- 200 students
Source: www.dailyfinland.fi
