Government to slash student grants, toughen eligibility

The government is proposing a substantial cut in student study grants, bringing them down to the same level as grants for secondary school students. It also plans to limit the duration of grants and establish study progress criteria for continuing eligibility for them.

The objective is to save €70 million (US$76 million) by 2019 and €150 million in the long term.

The plans are set out in a White Paper, Reform of Student Financial Aid, commissioned by Education and Culture Minister Sanni Grahn-Laasonen, to achieve the savings by 2019.

The proposals include cutting the study grants for university students from €336 per month to €250, a cut of more than 25%. This will be offset by raising the level of government-backed student loans made available.

In addition, the income limits for qualifying for grants would be indexed.

The proposals will be voted on by parliament later this month.

Grahn-Laasonen said: "I believe that the cuts are difficult and I find them unpleasant. On the other hand we know that the painful austerity decisions already made are not enough to cover our debt."

The restriction to funding study grants for no more than 45 months – but 54 months for medical students – is longer than the time needed to complete a single degree programme of 300 credits, and covers completion of longer degree programmes at universities of applied sciences.

The students would also be required to take six coursework credits a month to be eligible for student aid.

The author of the proposals, Roope Uusitalo of Jyväskylä University, also put forward an option in which the period of study grants would be limited to three years and postgraduate students would receive funding from other sources.

In addition to grants, Uusitalo proposed raising the level of student loans so that the combined study grant, housing allowance and student loan could be raised to €1,100 a month.

Student unions react

The National Union of University Students in Finland, or SYL, and the Union of Students in Finnish Universities of Applied Sciences, or SAMOK, together representing 203,000 students, issued a joint statement on 1 March condemning the proposals, describing them as “shameful”.

"The government seems to have left the principle that for decades has been fundamental for the Finnish society – that investment in knowledge and education is the key to a richer and better functioning society,” the statement said.

SAMOK President Jemi Heinilä said: "The proposed cuts of €150 million are unjust in regard to student financial security, that now will be set back by close to €100 per month.”

The proposal would mean that students would graduate with €30,000 of loan debt “on their backs”.

“There is no other group in society whose income the government could cut by 25% and even then have the stomach to argue that this is increasing justice in society," Heinilä said.

The student unions are worried that the increase in the level of study loans and the reduction of the grant will increase inequity in society, since children of less wealthy parents already have a tendency to choose higher education of a shorter duration, Heikki Koponen, chairman of SYL, said.

Last week during parliamentary question time, several MPs addressed the ongoing work on the proposals. Green MP Ozan Yanar said that the government is forcing the students to take on debt, Yle reported.

But Prime Minister Juha Sipilä said: "I am not making excuses for supporting taking loans. We will hold on to every penny of student aid that we can under these circumstances."