The Finnish government met on Monday and Tuesday for a budget session to agree on an additional €3 billion in savings. For Metropolia’s students, who are just starting their May Day celebrations, the outcome of the session was grim reading. Once again, the Finnish Government did not fail to show the students what their role is in these supposedly joint efforts.
The decision to transfer students from the general housing allowance back to the student housing supplement, which was taken in the budget session, will hit those studying in the Helsinki Metropolitan area particularly hard. Students who were already worried about cuts in the general housing allowance are now facing real concerns about their housing and livelihoods.
Their concerns are not helped by the message from students that finding summer jobs has been particularly challenging this year. And no wonder, as there are significantly fewer summer jobs available for the coming summer than last year (Yle 16.1.2024). You’ve been very lucky if you’ve managed to find a job alongside your studies.
In principle, students come to higher education to develop their skills so that they can do more good for society as a whole. Metropolia trains thousands of future professionals, from nurses to engineers and from business administrators to culture producers. However, the Finnish Government’s messages to students are contradictory: they should graduate as quickly as possible and raise Finland’s educational standards, but the cutbacks in income mean that they cannot afford to concentrate on studying alone.
Expectations for students and young people are becoming unreasonable. As expectations rise, the conditions for students to succeed and thrive are being severely curtailed by forcing them to work while studying or to take out ever larger amounts of student loans to cover essential living costs. The heavy debt burden accumulated during their studies makes it difficult to make major decisions and purchases in life after graduation, as the future looks increasingly uncertain.
Amidst all this, the mental health crisis among students is still ongoing. More than half of higher education students experience mental distress and more than a third have clinically significant symptoms (THL 2021). To make matters worse, more and more students are being placed at the back of an already disproportionately long queue when seeking help.
For students at Metropolia and other universities, METKA’s message is clear: you are not alone. Now is the time to get active and get organized to make your voice heard about the situation of students. Get involved in student unions and student associations. If possible, join student unions and student associations and voice your concerns within the higher education community. Make it clear to everyone how these actions affect the realities of students. Strong student organization is the only way to defend the position of students. Together we are stronger.
Finally, METKA wants to hear directly how Metropolia students feel right now. Let us know by sending us a Metku Mail.
Juuso Jaakkola
Chairperson of METKA’s Board
juuso.jaakkola@metkaweb.fi
Lauri Kanerva
Chairperson of METKA’s Representative Council
lauri.kanerva@metkaweb.fi
This post is also available in Suomi.