The new government programme was published last Friday 16.6.2023 after several weeks of negotiations. The 244-page government programme is called “Strong and caring Finland”, but unfortunately it mainly gives a cold shoulder to people on low incomes and living on subsidies, including students.
Students and education were previously said to be under ‘special protection’. What that special protection meant is something that the government programme negotiators themselves hardly know, because now cuts of several million euros are being made to education.
Housing benefit cuts hit students in the capital region hardest
Students’ livelihoods will be directly hit by the cuts in housing benefit. The cuts will be implemented by increasing the co-payment, lowering approved housing costs and abolishing the earned income deduction, among other things. Those living in the capital region will be hardest hit. Housing costs are already high and housing benefit combined with study grants have not been enough to cover living costs in the past, not even necessarily rent alone.
Efforts are also being made to make student housing more conducive to co-housing. However, the popularity of cohousing has been on the decline for years. The Helsinki Region Student Housing Foundation (Hoas) is constantly renovating shared apartments into family housing, and new developments are almost always single-family homes, as the occupancy rate of shared apartments is low. However, not only is shared housing not for everyone, but the reform also ignores students with families or disabilities.
Students’ livelihoods will be directly hit by the cuts in housing benefit. The cuts will be implemented by increasing the co-payment, lowering approved housing costs and abolishing the earned income deduction, among other things. Those living in the capital region will be hardest hit. Housing costs are already high and housing benefit combined with study grants have not been enough to cover living costs in the past, not even necessarily rent alone.
Efforts are also being made to make student housing more conducive to co-housing. However, the popularity of cohousing has been on the decline for years. The Helsinki Region Student Housing Foundation (Hoas) is constantly renovating shared apartments into family housing, and new developments are almost always single-family homes, as the occupancy rate of shared apartments is low. However, not only is shared housing not for everyone, but the reform also ignores students with families or disabilities.
Quality of education cannot be ensured with insufficient resources
There is no mention of increasing funding for higher education. However, there is a desire to increase the number of places available. In practice, it seems that less money per student will be available in the future. The quality of teaching cannot be properly ensured if group sizes increase and students are forced to complete their degrees in a more inflexible way.
There is also concern about whether there will be any more truly competent graduates from Metropolia, or whether there will soon be a danger that graduates will not be able to find employment or traineeships, because the institution has a reputation for producing people with inadequate vocational and working life skills.
According to METKA’s policy, education in Finland should be free for all. However, tuition fees for students from outside the EU and EEA countries are to be fully subsidised, which will affect the level of tuition fees. It is precisely the tuition fees and the fact that the training fees of universities of applied sciences have been transferred to the state that are being used to justify the cuts in education. However, the cuts in the basic funding of higher education institutions will be much greater than the savings made in traineeship fees.
Lifelong learning has been forgotten
In the past, the Ministry of Finance proposed tuition fees for students who were, for example, doing a second degree or graduating too slowly. Charging for a second degree goes against the principles of continuous learning. However, the world of work is constantly changing, with new professions emerging and old ones disappearing. Sometimes, health reasons also force people to change fields. So it is rare that people can make it from the beginning to the end of their career with just one qualification. There is also a desire to increase the fees for open universities of applied sciences, making it more difficult to obtain further training in smaller units.
The abolition of the adult education subsidy also goes against the principles of continuous learning. For example, it will soon be practically impossible for family workers to train.
The existing quota for first-time learners is to be further strengthened. Minds and plans may change or the perception of the field of interest may be wrong. There are many reasons for changing fields, even in the middle of a degree. However, once you have already clicked on Opintopolku to take up a place, your dreams of changing fields may indeed remain a dream.
Pauliina Tuominen
Chairperson of METKA’s Board
Maini Tran
Chairperson of METKA’s Representative Council
This post is also available in Suomi.