The aim of the change is to clarify practices and strengthen the equal treatment of students across different forms of education and funding.
For further vocational qualifications and specialist vocational qualifications starting after 1 January 2027, students will be charged a student fee regardless of how their studies are funded. A consistent practice ensures that students completing the same qualification are treated equally and fairly. Every effort has been made to keep the fees at a reasonable level. For a full qualification, the student fee for most further vocational qualifications and specialist vocational qualifications is approximately EUR 100–300.
The change does not apply to vocational upper secondary qualifications. Studies completed while receiving unemployment benefits and labour market training will also remain free of charge.
Under section 105 of the Act on Vocational Education and Training, an education provider may charge students completing a further vocational qualification or specialist vocational qualification a reasonable student fee to partially cover the costs of providing the education. The fee is charged to the student and cannot be invoiced directly to the employer. However, employers may choose to support their employees’ studies by reimbursing the student fee, for example in the form of a grant or in another way in accordance with their organisation’s practices.
We want to ensure that, despite the harmonisation of student fees, participation in education remains as smooth as possible for both students and employers. We aim to be flexible and take students’ different life situations into account, for example when agreeing on payment schedules and the number of instalments.
