Nearly 4,000 students face benefit cuts this spring

Nearly 4,000 students who have exhausted their study grant months but have not completed their studies have been directed to seek work or clarify their academic progress under threat of reduced basic social assistance, according to new data from Kela, Finland’s social security agency.

This is the first time Kela has collected data on students whose study grant entitlement has ended while their education remains unfinished and no employment has been found. Previously, Kela lacked precise figures on how many social assistance recipients were being redirected to other benefits or job searches.

“Now we know how many students have used up their grant months and, for example, decide to discontinue their studies to qualify for unemployment benefits,” said researcher Tuija Korpela. “In the future, we will be able to assess, based on statistics, what impact dropping out may have had.”

Around 9,000 students receive social assistance monthly, a figure that has risen since students were moved from general housing allowance to study grant housing supplements last autumn.

Korpela noted that during the coronavirus period, young people’s difficult summer job situation led to a high number of young social assistance recipients. Based on past summers and Kela’s data, a similar trend is expected this year.

“Young people are a group that reacts sensitively to employment situations because they do not yet have a stable position in the labour market,” she said. “However, it’s important to remember that receiving social assistance is usually temporary for young people—often a transitional phase, whether it’s getting through the summer, taking a gap year, or awaiting a future study place.”

Metropolia University of Applied Sciences has nearly doubled its summer course offerings for both bachelor’s and master’s level studies compared to last year, partly in response to the scarcity of summer jobs and internships. Heidi Rontu, director of learning, estimates that around 2,500 students will take summer courses, with just under 2,000 pursuing lower-level degrees.

“This is a significant number and likely reflects the difficulties students face in finding summer jobs,” Rontu said. She added that Metropolia has actively monitored students’ social situations and communicated summer course options and campus opening hours well in advance.

Summer studies are most common in social and health care, business, and engineering, where students unable to secure field-specific summer jobs may opt to advance their studies instead.