Student loan

General about student loan

• Student loans are state-guaranteed and must be repaid when the studies are completed.
• The student loan can be 300– 650 euros a month according to the decision on student financial aid. If you study abroad, the loan may amount to 800 euros a month.
• The state guarantee is in force for 30 years at the most from the first drawdown of the loan.
• The reference rate options are Nordea Prime and the 12-month Euribor. The bank’s margin is added on top of the reference rate.
• When you have a valid decision on a state guarantee, you can make a student loan application and partial drawdown requests in Netbank.
• As of the academic year 2011–2012, the state guarantee for student loans is granted without a separate application to all university students receiving a student grant.
• Kela will pay a portion of your student loan as student loan compensation if you have started your first higher education studies on 1 August 2014 or later and you have passed your degree within the target time.

Studying abroad

There are many considerations. First of all, you should find out the actual studying costs (such as tuition fees, living, rent). How should you arrange your banking? How to pay bills in Finland and transfer money from Finland to another country? How will you pay for your purchases abroad and will there be any tax considerations? Come and discuss all this with us – let's find the best options for you!

Applying for a student loan

First you will need a benefit decision on a student loan guarantee from Kela for the current term. When you have received it, you can apply for a student loan in Netbank. Go to Loans/Student loan/Student loan application. The processing of the application takes from one to three banking days. After receiving your application, Nordea contacts Kela, which sends the guarantee decision to the bank electronically. You will sign the loan agreement in Netbank with your the access codes.

Note that if you are under 18, the only way to apply for and draw down the loan is to do it at a branch as we need your guardians’ consent to the loan.

Kela’s benefit decision states the amount of your student loan and the dates on which you can make drawdowns.

Drawdown agreement and partial drawdowns

When you make a loan application in Netbank, you are requested to choose between a drawdown agreement and partial drawdowns. If you choose the drawdown agreement, the bank will transfer each loan drawdown automatically to your account on the first possible drawdown date, as stated in the guarantee decision. This means that the loan drawdowns are transferred to your account on the dates mentioned in the benefit decision. If you make a drawdown agreement in connection with the first drawdown, no other fees will be charged except the arrangement or raising fee.

If you choose partial drawdowns, the loan will not be transferred to your account automatically on the first possible drawdown date. Instead, you need to request for the drawdown separately. This way you can decide on the amount of loan you want to draw down each time. You can send a drawdown request through Netbank. If you choose separate drawdowns through Netbank, you will be charged an arrangement or raising fee and also a drawdown fee for the second and following partial drawdowns.