Students are advised to apply for school travel support before the start of the autumn semester
Support for school transport is available by application, and a separate application is required for each academic year. Students are advised to submit their application to their school well in advance of the start of the fall semester in order to avoid processing delays.
Kela grants school travel support to secondary school students, which includes high schools and vocational education.
The grounds for receiving school travel support vary depending on whether the student is entitled to free education in accordance with the Compulsory Education Act. Those entitled to free education can receive school travel support if the distance from home to school is at least seven kilometers. Students who are not entitled to free education must have a one-way journey of at least ten kilometers from home to school.
In addition, the student must travel to the educational institution or workplace for at least 10 days per calendar month to receive support.
Students can use the school travel allowance calculator (in Finnish or Swedish) to find out if they are entitled to support and what its amount would be.
The application for school travel allowance must be submitted to the student’s school
Students are advised to submit their application to the school well in advance of the start of the fall semester in order to avoid processing delays.
Students must complete an application for school transport support (KM1e) and send it to his school. The school checks the information in the application. Applications cannot be submitted online in Kela’s OmaKela online service.
When Kela has processed the application, the decision on support is sent to the student’s home address. The decision and information about the granted school travel allowance can also be found at OmaKela.
Source: Kela