Report to Kela on the progress of studies

Oct 7, 2022 | Bulletin, edunvalvonta, Kela, News, Services

15,600 higher education students have received a request for information about academic progress

Students in higher education who do not meet the minimum credit requirement for financial aid have received a request for further information. The deadline for replying to the request is 25 October 2022. Students can use the OmaKela e-service to reply.

The academic progress of students in higher education is assessed on the basis of financial aid data and information about the number of credits they have earned. The assessment can focus on the academic year 2021– 2022 or the entire time that a student has pursued higher education studies in Finland. The assessment of academic progress is based on the laws governing the student financial aid system.

The number of requests for information increased over the previous year

Kela assesses the academic progress of higher education students on a yearly basis. The assessment has now been carried out for around 138,000 higher education students who received financial aid for at least three months in the academic year 2021-2022.

A request for information has been sent to 8,400 university students and 7,200 students of universities of applied sciences. Last year, a total of 13,800 students received the request, 7,100 of whom attended a university and 6,700 a university of applied sciences.

Definition of satisfactory academic progress

Academic progress is assessed on the basis of two factors:
💠 Whether the student earned at least 20 credits in the most recent academic year (2021-2022)
💠 Whether the student has earned at least 5 credits on average for each month on financial aid either during the most recent academic year or over the entire course of study

The 20-credit requirement does not apply to students who began their studies in spring term 2022. If a student graduated or completed a higher education degree during the academic year that the monitoring of academic progress concerns, or in the autumn before the monitoring is carried out, the student has made sufficient progress in their studies. For students who have a higher education degree and who continue their studies in higher education, academic progress is assessed for the period following the month of graduation.

The assessment of academic progress takes into account all credits earned at Finnish institutions of higher education and the number of months of financial aid used since 1 August 2011. If a student has credits from more than one institution of higher education, Kela will automatically include such credits in the assessment. Incomplete studies are taken into account as well.

Students are advised to reply promptly to the request for information

The deadline for replying to the request is 25 October 2022. Students can, for example, use the online form available on the OmaKela e-service.

Based on the reply, Kela will consider whether there are acceptable reasons for unsatisfactory academic progress. Financial aid payments to students who do not reply or whose reasons are not accepted will be stopped effective 1 January 2023.

Additional information for customers: