Tuition Fees and Scholarship Criteria
Payment Instructions
- Tuition fee must be paid and study place confirmed latest by 28.11.2024 (application period in autumn)
- Tuition fee must be paid and study place must be confirmed latest by 10.7.2025 (application period in spring).
- Study place is conditional until the original school leaving certificate has been checked by the Admission Services and student has enrolled for the academic year and paid the required tuition fee.
- Study right will be cancelled if tuition fee is not paid until deadline.
- Tuition fee should be paid in full in euros (by using Flywire portal).
- Admitted applicant is responsible for any possible costs caused by international transaction.
- Detailed payment instructions will be included in the acceptance letter for admitted applicants.
- Tuition fee is paid for each attending semester
- Students who are not citizens of an EU/EEA country are also expected to cover living costs in Finland during studies (6720 euros per academic year). Receipt of paid tuition fee and a proof of sufficient funds for living costs should be provided to the Finnish Embassy when applying the residence permit for studies. More information on residence permit requirements can be found at Migri.fi
Scholarship Criteria Starting From Fall Semester 2024
This criteria only applies to those who start their studies on 1.8.2024 and onwards.
Students who start their studies prior to this follow the previous scholarship criteria.
Tuition Fees for Non-EU/EEA Students
The tuition fees for Bachelor and Master degree programmes starting from 1.8.2024.
- 9500 euros per academic year for Bachelor’s degree programmes conducted in English language.
- 10 500 euros per academic year for Master’s degree programmes conducted in English language.
*For students from EU/EEA countries, the tuition fees are exempted. To check if your country is in the EU/EEA, please see here.
*Non-EU/EEA students with certain specifications can also get exemptions from tuition fees. Please see below in the criteria and guidelines, under the section of Exemption of the Tuition Fee for more detail.
Start your tuition fee payment here
The prerequisite for a scholarship is that the student
- is from outside the EU/EEA and subject to tuition fees
- has paid for the tuition fee
- has enrolled as an attending student at VAMK during the scholarship application period
- whose studies have progressed within the regular target schedule for the degree in question taking into account student´s possibility to participate studies due to the duration of the residence permit process.
- complies with the normative duration of study
- has never been subject to disciplinary measures at VAMK based on the VAMK Degree Regulations
A student who is exempt from tuition fees cannot apply for the scholarship.
As for Joint Degree students, the same rules of granting scholarships are followed, with regard to the regular completion schedule of the degree.
The tuition fees and scholarships of transfer applicants and students who have changed degree
programmes are determined based on the start date of their original right to study.
All students subject to tuition fees are informed of the criteria regarding the scholarship a regular
basis during their studies. The criteria and guidelines remain accessible and visible to students during the application period.
The fees will not concern those non-EU/EEA students who
- have started their studies before autumn 2017 are enrolled in Doctoral/PhD level studies and research study in degree programmes taught in Finnish or Swedish
- are EU/EEA citizens or their family members (spouse / child)
- are Exchange students
To be exempted from tuition fees, the student subject to tuition fees must present a valid and accepted document. The student shall deliver the document to the applicant services. The following documents are accepted for exempting the student from tuition fees:
- A permanent or continuous Finnish residence permit (NB: Type A permit granted for
studying in Finland (from 15 April 2022 onwards) doesn’t exempt student from paying
tuition fee) - EU Blue Card valid in Finland
- Copy of EU passport
The document must be valid at the start of the term in question, 1 January or 1 August, for the student to be entitled to the exemption.
If the student’s status related to tuition fees changes mid-term, the tuition fee will be exempted for the next term. The document based on which the student is exempted from the tuition fees must be valid for 1 January or 1 August.
- The tuition fees may be refunded to the student if their application for a residence permit in Finland is rejected and the student revokes their application for studies in VAMK before the end of the enrollment period during which the application has been made. The rejection decision on the residence permit must be delivered to the applicant services within enrollment period when revoking an application for studies on the grounds of a rejection decision by the Finnish Immigration Services. If the whole degree programme is completely offered and conducted online, no refunds are possible, as participation does not require residence permit.The refund of the tuition fee causes the loss of the right to study, and VAMK shall report this to the Finnish Immigration Service (Migri).
- Pending residence permit application is not a sufficient reason for refund.
- If the residence permit application process has lasted more than one semester and the studies are not offered online, the student can transfer the paid tuition fee after receiving the A permit granted for studying in Finland to the next semester of attendance.The tuition fees may be refunded to the student for terms for which they are absent, if they have changed their registration for attendance into non-attendance by the registration date specified by VAMK. The registration dates for the academic year are announced to all students annually.
- A student subject to tuition fees is entitled to an Early Bird discount of the tuition fee if they have applied for VAMK and confirmed the place of study within seven (7) days of the publication of admission results. The discount is 1500 EUR, reduced from the first academic year tuition fee.
- Early bird discount is not applicable to transfer students or students applying through Open UAS.
- Further conditions for the Early Bird discount may be specified in the Studyinfo service, as well as in letter of acceptance sent to the student.
The non-EU/EEA student who is liable to pay tuition fees, can apply for scholarship based on the
national certificate of language proficiency in the Finnish language (YKI certificate, read more about the national certificate of language proficiency).
The amount of the scholarship based on the YKI certificate in the Finnish language is 4000 EUR when the student has paid tuition fee in full for the academic year. The scholarship can only be applied and granted once per academic year on the basis of student’s application.
Please see the available test dates for National Certificates of Language proficiency
Student must submit a copy of the language certificate as an attachment to his/her electronic application within one (1) month after receiving the accepted YKI certificate from test organizer. Scholarships cannot be applied retroactively. YKI test results will be reviewed by the scholarship committee on a monthly basis.
Student is responsible for covering all costs of taking the Finnish language test.
Requirements for the Application of the Scholarship based on Finnish Language Skills
Student can apply for scholarship in different academic years, given that aforementioned criteria is met and student progresses in language path.
We want to encourage our international degree students to study Finnish – Please find more information on Finnish language learning path at VAMK
Bachelor Degree – First Year
- Accepted YKI certificate at the basic level (grade 2) (Equivalent to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages level A2)
Bachelor Degree – Second Year
- Accepted YKI certificate (grade 3) at the intermediate level (Equivalent to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages level B1)
Bachelor Degree – Third Year
- Accepted YKI certificate (grade 4) at the intermediate level (Equivalent to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages level B2)
Master Degree
- Master degree student can apply for language based scholarship on the basis of any of the aforementioned YKI level during normative study right. The normative study right means the target time for degree. The target time is one (1) year for a 60-credit master degree and one and half (1,5) years for a 90-credit master degree.
Student cannot get more than one scholarship (4000 EUR) per academic year, although one would have participated and obtained both the intermediate and basic level certificates. In this case, scholarships must be applied during different academic years.
Scholarship can be granted in connection with graduation to a bachelor degree student on the basis of VAMK shared values; active activities as a member of the higher education community and/or in working life, or some other way of working, attitude or commitment in accordance with our values, in which our values of sympathy, pioneering, customer orientation and openness are manifested. Additionally, graduation in normative study time and excellent academic performance will be taken into consideration.
The amount of scholarship is 4000 EUR. Scholarships are proposed to the scholarship committee by educational units.
The number of merit based scholarships are limited: 1 student quota for each bachelor degree programme.
The scholarship committee processes the scholarship proposals that have been prepared and that are then sent to the rector for approval.
Members of the scholarship committee:
- Director of Administration (chair)
- Head of Student Services (presenter and draftsperson)
- Financial Manager
- Representative of the Student Union VAMOK
- Executive assistant (secretary, Education Services)
The scholarship decision cannot be appealed against with an administrative court due to the ban on appeals defined in Section 60 of the Polytechnics Act of Finland (932/2014).
The student has right to claim for rectification to a scholarship decision the scholarship committee of VAMK within 14 days of the date on which the rector of VAMK made the scholarship decision. The claim for rectification must include the student’s name, their contact information and their grounds for the rectification.
The scholarship committee will prepare a draft decision on the claim to be resolved by the rector of VAMK. The rector’s decision on a claim cannot be rectified or appealed against.
Scholarship Criteria 1.8.2020-31.7.2024
Students who start their studies before 1.8.2024 follow this scholarship criteria.
The scholarship grant applications are handled by the VAMK Scholarship Committee.
- The full scholarship in bachelor degree programmes is 3500 euros and for master degree programmes 4000 euros.
- Bachelor degrees: Scholarship is paid after each academic year on the basis of student’s application and academic performance. Student must complete required amount of credits per academic year (55 ECTS) . The final scholarship is paid in connection of the graduation, taking into account the normative duration of studies.
- Master degrees: Scholarship is only paid in connection of graduation, taking into account the normative duration of studies.
- Vaasa University of Applied Sciences (VAMK) reserves a right to evaluate criteria for the scholarships and payment on a yearly basis, yet so that the criteria is fixed upon the year of entry.
Who is eligible for the scholarship grant?
The prerequisite for the scholarship grant is that the student
- had paid for the tuition fee (required to be paid by non- EU students starting from 1 August 2017)
- has enrolled as an attending student at VAMK
- complies with the normative duration of study
- has completed a sufficient number of credits that are entered in the study register. The studies must be programme specific, in accordance with curriculum and completed during the normative duration of study.
- has never been disciplined at VAMK according to the VAMK Degree Regulations
How to apply and the amount of scholarship grant
The grant is applied using a grant application form. Email reminders are sent to students of the updated form link before the scholarship grant application starts. The full grant for both bachelor and master programmes is as follows:
Bachelor degrees: The grant (3500 EUR) is tied with the studies completed so that the student is to complete at least 55 credits during the academic year.
Master degrees: The grant (4000 EUR) is only paid in connection of graduation.
Bachelor degrees
Student can apply for scholarship grant in different academic years, given that aforementioned criteria of completed study credits is met.
First year students
- The grant is applied for during 1 – 15 September, provided that the student has completed at least 55 credits.
- The grant is applied for during 1 – 15 February (students who have commenced in January intake), provided that the student has completed at least 55 credits. Application period in January does not concern Open UAS or transfer students.
- The student can apply for the grant only for the entire academic year in one instalment during 1 – 15 September, provided that the student has completed at least 55 credit worth of studies.
Second and third year students
- The grant is applied for during 1 – 15 September, provided that after the second study year the student has completed at least 110 credits and after the third study year at least 165 credits.
Fourth year students
- The grant may be given if the degree had been completed within the normative duration of study.
- The grant is applied for in connection of the graduation.
Joint Degree students. - The principles mentioned above will be applied in Joint Degrees, taking into account the normative duration of studies.
Students taking a Master (UAS) degree
- The condition is the completion of degree in normative duration of studies, according to the curriculum.
- The grant is only paid in connection of graduation.
Scholarship of 1000€ is available for students who demonstrate their Finnish language skills by completing National Certificate of Language Proficiency test (YKI) on level 3-4 or higher
Scholarship based on Finnish language proficiency is single payment and therefore can only be granted to student once during study right.
Student is responsible for YKI test fee and any other costs incurred.
Available for applicants who confirm their study place within 7 days from the publication of admission results. The discount is 1500€, reduced from first academic year tuition fee. Earlybird discount is not applicable to transfer students or students applying through Open UAS.
The scholarship committee processes the scholarship proposals that have been prepared and that are then sent to the rector for approval.
Members of the scholarship committee:
- Director of Administration (chair)
- Head of Student Services (presenter and draftsperson)
- Financial Manager
- Representative of the Student Union VAMOK
- Executive assistant (secretary, Education Services)
The scholarship decision cannot be appealed against with an administrative court due to the ban on appeals defined in Section 60 of the Polytechnics Act of Finland (932/2014).
The student has right to claim for rectification to a scholarship decision the scholarship committee of VAMK within 14 days of the date on which the rector of VAMK made the scholarship decision. The claim for rectification must include the student’s name, their contact information and their grounds for the rectification.
The scholarship committee will prepare a draft decision on the claim to be resolved by the rector of VAMK. The rector’s decision on a claim cannot be rectified or appealed against.
