Monday February 10, 2025

Income limit raises by 50%

Kela asks 25700 students to repay overpaid benefit

Published : 04 Feb 2025, 20:28

Updated : 04 Feb 2025, 20:30

  DF Report
DF File Photo.

The national social insurance institution-Kela asked 25,700 students to repay the overpaid student financial aid for 2023 by April 15 this year, said Kela in a press release on Tuesday.

The students have already received a preliminary decision in this regard.

The annual income limits for student financial aid have been raised in recent years, leading to fewer cases where overpaid financial aid has had to be recovered.

The annual income limit varies according to the number of months for which a student receives financial aid. The 2023 limit for students who received financial aid for nine months was set at EUR 18,720.

The total amount of financial aid proposed to be recovered is EUR 26.3 million.

The average amount that an individual student will be required to pay back to Kela is EUR 1,023. Any financial aid that is recovered is subject to a surcharge of 7.5 per cent.

According to Senior Coordinator of Kela´ Student Financial Aid Section Ilpo Lahtinen, the annual income limits for student financial aid were raised by 50 per cent in 2022 and 2023.

“As a result, the number of preliminary recovery decisions on overpaid financial aid has fallen from 47,000 to 25,000,” Lahtinen said.

The income limits for 2025 and 2026 have also been increased in line with indexation.

Students who receive a preliminary decision must pay back the overpaid amount to Kela by 15 April 2025, but they also have the option of contacting Kela well before the due date to agree on alternative payment arrangements.

They can propose to pay back the amount being recovered in instalments or to have it withheld from another Kela benefit that they receive, in which case Kela will deduct the overpaid financial aid from the second benefit.

“Students who receive a preliminary overpayment recovery decision can use the OmaKela e-service to set up a repayment plan, so there’s no need to take the extra step of calling Kela's customer service”, Lahtinen added.

The annual income check performed now only concerns student financial aid such as study grants and housing supplements. It does not apply to the general housing allowance.

In past years, about 15 percent of those who received a preliminary decision on the recovery of overpaid financial aid had either just begun their studies, had recently graduated, or had exhausted their eligibility for financial aid. Where that is the case, students may have earned some or all of their income outside the period of study, meaning that the amount they must pay back could potentially be reduced or they might not have to pay back anything at all.

Lahtinen said that students who began their studies, graduated or exhausted their eligibility in 2023 should request that the preliminary decision be reviewed.

The request must be submitted by 13 March 2025. The preliminary decision includes instructions for submitting the request.

Kela said that students must keep track of their annual income so as not to exceed the income limit. If they see that their income is about the exceed the limit, they should cancel or return financial aid voluntarily before Kela carries out the annual income check.

Lahtinen said that if a student knows that they have gone past the annual income limit, they can return financial aid voluntarily, thereby avoiding having to pay the 7.5 percent surcharge and forfeiting aid months.

Financial aid can be cancelled, stopped or returned easily using the OmaKela e-service. The deadline for returning financial aid voluntarily for 2024 is the end of April 2025.

The annual income check for 2024 will be performed at the beginning of 2026 once the Tax Administration has finalised the tax information for 2024 and released it to Kela.