3,200 students to lose Kela benefit

The Social Insurance Institution-Kela decided to discontinue student financial aid for about 3,200 students due to insufficient progress in their studies, said Kela in a press release on Tuesday.

Kela monitored study progress of 230,000 students in higher education students and upper secondary education level this autumn and took the decision based on the monitoring results.

Out of the students, who are going to lose benefit, 1,900 are in higher education and about 1,300 are in upper secondary education.

Through the monitoring, Kela checks whether the eligibility criteria for financial aid are met.

Based on the monitoring results, Kela sent a request for further information to about 15,500 students in higher education and about 6,000 students in upper secondary education.

Student financial aid will be discontinued for students who have not earned enough credits and who have not notified Kela of an acceptable reason for their slow progress.

Acceptable reasons include, for instance, illness or some other difficult life situation.

If the financial aid payments are discontinued because the student forgot to reply to a request for further information, the student can request a review of the decision to discontinue payment.

Student financial aid is usually discontinued with effect from 1 January 2024.

If payments are discontinued as of some other date, that information will be included in the decision to discontinue payment.

If student financial aid has been discontinued due to lack of progress in the studies, the student may nevertheless receive student financial aid again later on. Students can requalify for financial aid after the discontinuation of financial aid payments on condition that they subsequently earn at least the minimum number of credits required.