Financial aid for roreign students

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vieteejais
Posts: 17
Joined: Thu Feb 11, 2010 3:42 pm

Financial aid for roreign students

Post by vieteejais » Wed Jun 02, 2010 12:56 pm

Hello!

I will study in Finland - Lappenranta next semestre! And I am interested in this oportunity to get some help.
But i don`t understand what is the things you shuld do whithout studying?
http://www.kela.fi/in/internet/english. ... enDocument

Can you help me?



Financial aid for roreign students

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rinso
Posts: 3949
Joined: Fri Aug 25, 2006 7:22 pm

Re: Financial aid for roreign students

Post by rinso » Wed Jun 02, 2010 1:19 pm

It is very clear: If you are a (permanent) resident for other reasons than studying (married to a Finn, full time work, granted asylum) you can apply for financial aid. (but if you have an income from full time work, you won't get anything)
If you're now living abroad, you can forget about Kela. Only way than is to get a grant (Erasmus or so)

sammy
Posts: 7313
Joined: Tue Jan 11, 2005 2:38 pm

Re: Financial aid for roreign students

Post by sammy » Wed Jun 02, 2010 5:07 pm

As rinso implied, the KELA grant does not as such always depend on your nationality. Foreign nationals can usually only be entitled to it if they're already residing in Finland for some other reason than studies - which of course may sound a bit silly, since after all "it is a study grant, right"?

Well - you may find the definition makes more "sense" if you think about it like this: the KELA grant is for Finns and those foreign citizens who already live permanently in Finland, not for those who are coming to Finland to study. It's not a scholarship but a form of "social security benefit" for those who have no (or little) income during their studies. And as with most other social security benefits, your residency status needs to be "permanent" so that you could be considered eligible.

I'm afraid you have little chance of getting any financial support for your (as I see it from another thread) UAS studies in Finland, unless you could apply for a "study abroad" grant from your home country, or if the hosting institution has some grants of it's own (which AFAIK is quite rare)

Erasmus BTW is not an option, it's an exchange programme. You can't apply for any Erasmus funding for degree studies. (Erasmus Mundus is a different matter altogether - they're Master's and Doctoral programmes with 'attached' scholarships, not applicable to any other than Erasmus Mundus degree programmes themselves)

Bear in mind that you're already getting the studies free of charge...


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