Education Cost in Finland
Childcare / Kindergarten
The fees for public child day care (varhaiskasvatus) depend on the family’s income.
The maximum fee of municipal early childhood education is US$319 | €295 for the first child and US$203 | €188 for the second child.
The minimum fee is US$30 | €28 per child.
The fee also depends on how many hours child stays in daycare.
Benefits for families with children
You can get benefits for families with children from Kela if you are covered by the Finnish social security system and you live in Finland permanently.
- Maternity clinic services are free of charge.
- Maternity package (Äitiypakkaus) that contains newborn clothes and care products or a cash benefit of 170 euro.
- Maternity/Paternity allowances are determined on an annual income basis. You can calculate the amount of parental allowances in 2022 by using the Estimator (in Finnish).
Child benefit. Kela pays child benefit for each child until the end of the month when the child turns 17.Child benefit is paid according to the number of eligible children in the family.
- 1st child (per month) US$103 | €95
- 2nd child (per month) US$114 | €105
- 3rd child (per month) US$145 | €134
- 4th child (per month) US$176 | €163
Single parent: + US$68 | €63 per child per month.
Child home care allowance
- for one child under age 3 (per month) US$370 | €342
- for each additional child under age 3 (per month) US$110 | €102
- for a child who has reached age 3, but is still under school age (per month) US$71 | €66
Source: KELA
University Education
University education for EU residents
Preschool education, basic comprehensive school and upper secondary school education are free of charge in Finland.
Studying in Finnish universities is free of charge for Finnish and EU/EEA students.
University education for non-EU residents
Tuition fees for non-EU/EEA students in 2024
University of Helsinki
- Master’s in English (per academic year) US$14054 - 19459 | €13000 - 18000
- Bachelor’s Degree in Science (per academic year) US$14054 | €13000
Aalto University
- Master’s Program in English (per academic year) US$12973 | €12000
- Bachelor’s Degree in Science (per academic year) US$16216 | €15000
OAMK Oulu University of Applied Sciences
- Master’s Program in English (per academic year) US$10811 | €10000
- Bachelor’s Degree in Science (per academic year) US$8649 | €8000
Adult Education
Open universities are providing free courses and programs developed for adult learners.
There are many municipal adult education centers in Finland that offer language, handicraft and humanities courses free of charge or for a small fee, e.g.
Finnish language courses cost US$27 - 54 | €25 - 50 for a semester.
