Woman who grew up in poverty leaves legacy of scholarships for pupils of her rural school

Former pupils of a small village school in Sastamala, western Finland, are receiving unusually large study grants thanks to a bequest from a woman who wanted to give local children the opportunities she never had. The story was reported by Yle.

The Eva and Niilo Pakkala Fund has now distributed grants 60 times. By the end of 2024, the total amount awarded had reached 3.3 million euros.

This spring, 83 students received grants from the fund, with individual amounts ranging from 1,000 to over 4,000 euros. A single student can receive tens of thousands of euros over the course of their studies, and there is no limit on how many times they can apply. The main requirement is that studies are progressing and credits are being accumulated.

To be eligible, applicants must have attended Karkku School for at least four years. The fund is administered by the city of Sastamala and supports post-compulsory education of all kinds.

Iina Honkakoski, who now studies social services at Lapland University of Applied Sciences, says she has received around 25,000 euros in grants since finishing primary school. For her, the funding has been critical during retraining, when she was not eligible for adult education support or standard student financial aid.

Sonja Tiitola, a doctoral researcher from Kangasala, received a grant from the fund for the first time this year. She only heard about it last summer, through a contact who had been a headteacher at a local upper secondary school.

“I was completely taken aback that something like this could exist,” Tiitola said. She added that the grant will allow her to continue her research and attend an international conference, and that receiving one grant can make it easier to secure other funding in future.

The fund was established through the will of Eva Pakkala, who grew up in Karkku and bequeathed her estate to the local municipality. Her original wish was to support former pupils of Karkku primary school in continuing their education or gaining practical professional skills. As Karkku has since become part of Sastamala and the old primary school structure no longer exists, the fund’s rules have been updated accordingly.

Pastor Anu Jokinen-Lundén, who chairs the fund’s board, said the grants were small at first but have grown over time. “The bequest has been invested broadly in equities and funds, which have performed well. The fund is financially sound and I believe large grants will continue to be awarded in the future,” she said.

Other local scholarship funds exist in Finland. The Idman Foundation supports university students who graduated from upper secondary school in the Tampere region, awarding 700 to 900 grants of around 2,000 euros annually, with a maximum of two grants per person. In Iisalmi, the Aminoff Fund distributed grants totalling 86,200 euros to 105 students in 2025, also with a two-grant limit. The Pakkala Fund stands out for the size of its grants, the breadth of eligible studies, and the absence of any cap on the number of awards a student can receive.