My daughter wants to study in Finland.

msorsa · Post by **msorsa** » Wed Feb 10, 2010 6:47 pm

My daughter has Finnish citizenship and wants to study in Finland. We live in South Africa and she is persistent that she wants to learn the language and live there.

I have never worked in Finland so does she get the free schooling and the other benefits?
Thanks

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Pursuivant · Post by **Pursuivant** » Wed Feb 10, 2010 7:17 pm

Free schooling of course, if she gets accepted. As for benefits... Finnish social security is based on residence in the country, and actually being contributing into the system. So if she moves here without work, say with a place in a polytechnic, she'll have to be able to organize everything by herself as shes a Finn who "knows everything" and not an "immigrant". And if not resided in Finland - getting a student handout is not proclaimed in church and if shes no-speak finding a job is about as interesting. So, a slight catch-22. Best idea is to land here with something to do for at least 3-6 months like an aupair job, just to get intothe system working with the idea nobodys going to give the light of day necessarily.

corenol · Post by **corenol** » Wed Feb 10, 2010 9:57 pm

Yes, everyone gets free schooling (with the exception of few Master programme students) no matter where they come from. She has Finnish citizenship, even better - then she is able to get KELA grants and avoid all bureaucracy that non-Finns must go through.

If she doesn't speak Finnish yet I would recommend her to study in English and work on her Finnish skills on her free time. Admissions to Universities of Applied Sciences is currently open (only for few days more, though!) so she should visit www.admissions.fi asap. There are 91 programmes taught in English in different fields - deadline for application is February 12 at 16:15 Finnish time.

msorsa · Post by **msorsa** » Thu Feb 11, 2010 6:56 pm

Thank you for the information. My daughter must still finish her last year of school. Went to the Finnish embassy today and they gave me info on all Polytechnics and websites.
They say she will need 700E per month to live on. This is half my wages here in South Africa.

EP · Post by EP » Thu Feb 11, 2010 7:03 pm

They say she will need 700E per month to live on

The requirement for foreign students is not quite that much, it is 500 € per month. I don´t see how your daughter would need more.

msorsa · Post by **msorsa** » Thu Feb 11, 2010 7:30 pm

500 E will do, but as she is a Finnish citizen, she might get Kela assistance. All the websites are for foreign people and is no help to me.

EP · Post by EP » Thu Feb 11, 2010 7:44 pm

Try this:
http://www.kela.fi/in/internet/english. ... enDocument

rinso · Post by **rinso** » Fri Feb 12, 2010 8:37 am

she might get Kela assistance

If Kela accepts her as a "normal" resident.
Finnish citizenship doesn't automatic means "resident"
As long as she is registered as a SA resident it might be a problem.
And Kela is famous for not handing out money if they can find a reason.

msorsa · Post by **msorsa** » Fri Feb 12, 2010 7:23 pm

Thank you for the answers.
I have contacted KELA with my query and hopefully they will get back to me.
Will post back here if they do.

Pursuivant · Post by **Pursuivant** » Fri Feb 12, 2010 10:31 pm

msorsa wrote:They say she will need 700E per month to live on. This is half my wages here in South Africa.

Yeah, but on the other hand you don't pay half your wages into taxes into Finland to provide for that "free" education...

msorsa · Post by **msorsa** » Sat Feb 13, 2010 8:01 pm

Pursuivant wrote:
msorsa wrote:They say she will need 700E per month to live on. This is half my wages here in South Africa.
Yeah, but on the other hand you don't pay half your wages into taxes into Finland to provide for that "free" education...

This sounds quite offensive. My parents paid their dues, so did their parents, as did their parents before them. Lost family members to the war. My daughter wants to get back to her roots and her family there as we have none here.
She will be working in Finland after her studies so why are you complaining? she'll be paying tax!

msorsa · Post by **msorsa** » Sat Feb 13, 2010 8:13 pm

Pursuivant.

I see you live in England. So you pay taxes in the UK? Where are you going to send your kids to study?? Finland, I think...

interleukin · Post by **interleukin** » Sat Feb 13, 2010 8:14 pm

She will be working in Finland after her studies so why are you complaining? she'll be paying tax!

Will she? Most people who come to Finland to study can not get a job after their studies so they leave the country after the studies. And contribute nothing to Finland other than having eaten cheap student food for three years.

msorsa · Post by **msorsa** » Sat Feb 13, 2010 8:20 pm

No, she will not eat cheap food. She will eat good, healthy food as she wants to study "Dietetics"
Also, she is determined to live in Finland and learn the language.

Upphew · Post by **Upphew** » Sat Feb 13, 2010 11:02 pm

msorsa wrote:No, she will not eat cheap food. She will eat good, healthy food as she wants to study "Dietetics"
Also, she is determined to live in Finland and learn the language.

Then she is on her way to Kuopio, as it's university is the only one offering clinical nutrition studies: http://www.uku.fi/opiskelu/koulutusohje ... iede.shtml

"Licentiate in Medicine

The whole curriculum of medical studies at the University of Kuopio is in Finnish. To be able to study medicine at the University of Kuopio (Finland) you have to be able to speak, write and understand Finnish language more or less fluently."

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