Proposed changes in tuition fees and scholarships – effect on Aalto students

Your tuition fee level is based on the level which was valid at start date of your study right. This means that even if you enrol as non-attending or neglect to enrol during the first year, the tuition fee level stays the same as it was at the start of your study right, if you continue your studies within the same study right.

So, if you got your study right on 1 August 2024 (or before), but registered as non-attending or neglected enrolment during the first academic year, the changes in tuition fees do not affect your tuition fee level. This means that if you register for the first time as attending in autumn 2025, you will continue paying the tuition fees set in 2024 when your study right started. 

If you continue within the same study right (3+2), which was granted on 1 August 2024 or before, you will maintain the tuition fee levels that were valid at the start of your study right. Please note that if you later apply for a master's study right which is not included in the same study right (3+2), the changes in tuition fees will affect the master's study right.

If you continue your studies within the same study right (3+2) granted upon admission (1 August 2024 or earlier):

• The tuition fee level for your master’s programme is the one which was valid at the start of your study right.  
• You are eligible for the scholarships available to those continuing from Aalto's bachelor’s programmes to Aalto's master’s programmes.

If you apply for a master’s study right which is not included in your original 3+2 study right:

• You will have the updated tuition fee levels as your study right will begin on a different date, i.e. after 1 August 2024.
• You will have to apply for a scholarship when applying to the master’s programme. 
• When applying, you might be required to pay the application fee.

You have the possibility to apply for the scholarships that were available at the start of your study right, if you have started your studies on 1 August 2024 or before. These scholarships include:

• Incentive-Based Scholarship
• Additional term scholarship
• Scholarship for bachelor's students continuing in a master's programme; more below.
• Reserve Scholarship

If you were granted a scholarship upon admission, you get to keep the scholarship as it is. The criteria and guidelines (e.g. regarding continuation of scholarship) remain the same. This concerns the following scholarships:

• Aalto Scholarships (50 % and 100 %)
• Finland Scholarships

If your study right starts on or after 1 August 2025, you will be eligible to apply for the scholarships in Aalto's new scholarship programme.

If you continue within the same study right (3+2), which was granted on 1 August 2024 or before, you will maintain the eligibility to apply for the scholarships that were available at the start of your study right. Please note that if you later apply for a master's study right which is not included in the same study right (3+2), the changes will affect the master's study right.

If you continue your studies within the same study right (3+2) granted upon admission (1 August 2024 or earlier):

• The tuition fee level for your master’s programme is the one which was valid at the start of your study right.  
• You are eligible for the scholarships available to those continuing from Aalto's bachelor’s programmes to Aalto's master’s programmes.

If you apply for a master’s study right which is not included in your original 3+2 study right:

• You will have the updated tuition fee levels as your study right begins on a different date, i.e. after 1 August 2024.
• You have to apply for a scholarship when applying to the master’s programme. 
• When applying, you might be required to pay the application fee.

If your tuition fees are covered by a scholarship provider outside Aalto (e.g. LPDP), you can continue as before, if you have started your studies on 1 August 2024 or before. This is due to the fact that the changes to tuition fee levels do not affect your current study right.

You are also be able to apply for Aalto's scholarships as before (e.g. Incentive-Based Scholarship), if your study right has started on 1 August 2024 or before.

If you are looking for external funding for your studies at Aalto, you can continue to look for external scholarships as before, even after the possible confirmations of the proposed changes.

According to the amended Universities Act, certain residence permits would no longer exempt students from paying tuition fees:

• If your first residence permit in Finland was granted for the purpose of studying, you must pay tuition fees, even if you later obtained a continuous residence permit (type A) on other grounds.
• If you have a continuous residence permit (type A) based on family ties in Finland, and your family member originally came to Finland on a residence permit granted for studying, you are also required to pay tuition fees.

The Universities Act also has amendments to the exempting residence permit types:

• Those with a residence permit based on temporary protection in Finland, as referred to in the Aliens Act. The permit has to be valid at the beginning of the study right, and the permit cannot have later been revoked.
• Those with an Erasmus Mundus scholarship, who are studying in the Erasmus Mundus programme funded by the European Union, will be exempted from Aalto's tuition fees.

The changes to tuition fee exemptions will enter into force on 1 December 2024. More information on tuition fee exemptions here.

Your current residence permit type and exemption status will determine whether you will be exempted starting from the next academic year or term (deadline for sending the documents by the end of the enrolment period), for example:

• If you are currently on a study-based residence permit (i.e. not exempted), and you obtain a new continuous residence permit (type A) on a non-study basis after 1 December 2024, the changes affect you regardless of your study right start date. In this case, the type of your first residence permit in Finland determines whether you are eligible for an exemption of tuition fees.
• If you are currently on a study-based residence permit, and you obtain a new permanent residence permit (type P) after the new law enters into force, you will be exempted from tuition fees.

If you have been exempted from paying tuition fees before the new law enters into force on 1 December 2024, and the exemption period has been marked in your details in Sisu:

• You will continue to be exempted from tuition fees during the validity period of your current exempting residence permit, as marked in Sisu.  
• There has not been confirmation yet on how the new Universities Act affects those currently exempted students who later renew their residence permits (type remaining the same or changing to another exempting type). When this has been confirmed, we will contact all currently exempted students and update the information on our pages accordingly.

If you get a Finnish/EU/EEA/Swiss nationality, you will be exempted from tuition fees starting from the next academic term, according to the current guidelines.

Currently, it is possible to get a permanent residence permit (marked with a P on the residence permit card) after having a fixed term, continuous permit (marked with A) type permit for four years. Usually, the type B is combined with a short-term permit of an employee.  

Based on the proposal to the Aliens Act, in the future it would be possible to obtain a permanent residence permit based on a six-year period of residence, with some additional requirements to the current ones.  

These would include sufficient language skills demonstrated in a language test, a two-year work history without recourse to unemployment security or social assistance other than for a very short period of time, and a stricter integrity requirement.

The proposal suggests one of the following:

• A person of working age could obtain a permanent residence permit based on a four-year period of residence with a minimum annual income of EUR 40,000, or  
• If the person has completed a Master’s degree recognized in Finland and has a two-year work history without recourse to unemployment security or social assistance other than for a very short period of time during their residence in Finland, or  
• A person has particularly good skills in the Finnish or Swedish language demonstrated in a language test and a three-year work history without recourse to unemployment security or social assistance other than for a very short period of time during their residence in Finland. 

Graduates could apply for

• a residence permit on the basis of work after completing a degree completed in Finland or  
• a permit to look for a job or start a business, which gives them the opportunity to stay in Finland for maximum two years. This permit can be used in three parts and each part must last at least six months.

It is recommended you apply for this permit before your study-based residence expires if you are staying in Finland.  

The permit can be applied for later on, too, but within five years from the date when your residence permit for studies expired.

The proposals to the Aliens Act would apply in cases when a person has a permit based on employment and their employment contract is terminated before its planned end date, for example in a case when a person is laid off or they resign from a job themselves.  

The suggested proposal gives the laid-off or resigned person three months to find a new job in Finland to prevent the original residence permit from being revoked before the original end date.  

Specialists, directors, start-up entrepreneurs and those people who have been in Finland for more than two years with a work-based permit would have 6 months to find a new job in Finland.

As a rule and according to the current legislation, if a person is in Finland with a fixed-term residence permit which ends according to the original work contract, they must apply for a new residence permit before the expiration or leave the country at the end of the validity of the permit.

If you are a current student in a programme which uses the universities' local tuition fees and scholarships (e.g. Nordic Master programmes, EMC), there will be no changes to your scholarship at Aalto University, if your study right has started on or before 1 August 2024. 

You are able to maintain your current scholarship (the eligibility criteria would stay the same), and you will be able to apply to scholarships that were available to you at the start of your study right. This also applies to students whose study right begins on 1 August 2024, i.e. those who start their studies in the autumn of 2024.

If you are eligible to Aalto's scholarship, please note that Aalto's scholarship programme will also be updated due to the amendments to the Universities Act. The updated scholarship programme concerns those whose study right begins on or after 1 August 2025, i.e. those starting their studies in 2025.