Kela asks 35,000 students to repay overpaid benefit

The national social insurance institution-Kela asked 35,000 students to repay the overpaid student financial aid for 2024 by April 30 this year, said Kela in a press release on Thursday.

The students exceeded their income limit for student financial aid and now they need to pay back, if they want to avoid the recovery process that will add a 7.5% increase to the amount.

“Last year, over 22,000 students returned a total of EUR 17.7 million voluntarily. We estimate that the amount of repayments will remain the same this year as the same income limits applied as in 2023,” said 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 by the end of April 2025 at the latest will be required to pay back the aid to Kela in February 2026.

At that point, an increase of 7.5% will be added to the amount that Kela will recover from these students, and the students will not be able to reuse the recovered months of financial aid.

Meanwhile, the annual income limit and the voluntary repayment provision do not apply to the general housing allowance. However, students will be transferred to a new housing supplement scheme for students on 1 August 2025.

This means that when a student pays back student financial aid in the future, they will also have to pay back their housing supplement.

“Students will have to be particularly careful next year when checking their income and annual income limit,” said Lahtinen.