Foreign students face thousands in annual Finnish upper secondary fees

New upper secondary students arriving from outside the EU and European Economic Area must now pay annual tuition fees of up to 15,400 euros, Yle reports. The change has reduced interest in some schools and threatens to worsen enrolment declines at small upper secondary schools.

Since 1 August, education providers such as municipalities have been required to charge students from outside the EU and EEA an annual fee set by the provider. They no longer receive government funding for these students.

Fees reported by municipalities responding to Yle’s survey ranged from 8,953 to 15,400 euros a year. Students must also pay for food, housing and usually study materials, adding at least 3,000 euros annually.

Yle surveyed upper secondary schools where at least 30 percent of students came from outside the EU and EEA last year. More than half of the 12 principals who responded estimated that the reform would reduce student numbers.

In the municipality of Kinnula in northwestern Central Finland, around half of the upper secondary school’s students have arrived from outside Europe in recent years. About 10 new foreign students had been expected to start this year, but interest ended after they were told about the annual fee.

Kinnula’s education committee decided to charge new students from outside the EU and EEA 15,400 euros for the academic year. Principal and education director Niko Aihio said the school was also important to the municipality’s lower secondary school because the two institutions share subject teachers.

Five international students who joined Kinnula’s first-year group this autumn do not have to pay the fee because they began their upper secondary studies last winter, before the law came into force. Similar arrangements apply at other schools to students who began their studies before August.

At Sulkava Upper Secondary School in South Savo, eight new students from Asia began studying Finnish and mathematics in the spring. Had they started in August, they would have been charged an annual fee of 10,000 euros. Sulkava’s first-year group has 17 students this autumn.

Tuition fees have not ended all international interest in Finnish upper secondary schools. Some fee-paying students have started this autumn at schools in Tohmajärvi, Posio, Salla and Mänttä. At Rantasalmi Upper Secondary School, 11 of the 26 first-year students come from Asia, including seven whose studies began this autumn.

At least some students continue to be drawn to the schools by their courses, surroundings and support networks. Myanmar-born Nay Chi, who studies in Kinnula, said she had initially feared loneliness but had since found a support family and friends. She hopes to study engineering and remain in Finland.