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Student allowances, grants and rights

Students have various rights and opportunities to apply for allowances, grants and benefits while studying at Omnia.

On this page:

Right to study and working hours

The duration and working hours of vocational qualifications (including an initial vocational qualification, further vocational qualification, and specialist vocational qualification) are based on each student’s prior competence, career plan goals, and personal choices based on them. Because of this, your school hours and working hours will vary based on your choice of studies. These are planned in your personal competence development plan. As a student, your timetable is visible in the Wilma system.

When you participate in workplace learning, you will work within the working hours agreed for the workplace. Absences must be reported immediately to the teacher, the workplace instructor and/or the coordinating teacher, as is normally done at a workplace. You must provide a doctor’s certificate in the case of long absences (more than 5 days) and on request. Teachers record daily attendance in the Wilma system.

Costs and supplies

As a general rule, once compulsory education has been completed, the student should purchase their own textbooks and other learning materials. You can borrow textbooks from the Omnia library. The student must also buy the work clothes, tools, equipment and materials that they will keep after completing the education. If necessary, you can use Omnia’s shared equipment.

Read more on materials and equipment in compulsory education and the fees to be paid for studies.

Vocational education

Students in initial vocational education receive tuition, the necessary tools, a computer and other equipment, materials, protective clothing, and other equipment according to the occupational health and safety regulations free of charge. However, some fields of study may exceptionally involve specific costs. Please contact your teachers for more information.

For initial vocational qualifications, education is free of charge for the student. For further vocational qualifications and specialist vocational qualifications, the studies may be subject to a fee. There is no such fee for an apprenticeship. 

Upper Secondary School for Adults

Read more about the supplies to be purchased for the Upper Secondary School for Adults.

Student grants and benefits

Students have access to a range of grants and benefits.

Financial aid for students

Kela grants financial aid for full-time students. For more information on students’ financial aid, please the Kela student pages (kela.fi)

Travel

HSL student discount

If you live permanently in the HSL area (Helsinki Region Transport) and are a full-time student aged 18 or over, you can buy a season ticket at a student discount. Persons under 18 years of age travel on a children’s ticket. You can activate the discount in the HSL mobile app yourself by logging in with your online banking credentials.

School transport subsidy

The school transport subsidy reimburses the cost of transport to and from school. You can receive the school transport subsidy primarily for travel by public transport. If you cannot use public transport, you can also receive the subsidy for self-organised transport. Read more about the school transport subsidy (kela.fi).

Apply for the school transport subsidy via an online application in the OmaKela service (available in Finnish and Swedish) (kela.fi). To log in to OmaKela and apply for the subsidy, you will need your own online banking credentials or a mobile certificate.

If you travel with Matkahuolto or HSL, you will have receive the electronic proof of your right to purchase tickets as soon as you have submitted your application.

If you are unable apply for the subsidy in OmaKela, you can also apply by using a paper form available at the Omnia Service Centre. You can return the completed form to the Omnia Service Centre staff.

Housing

Omnia does not have its own student residence. You can apply for housing on websites for private housing ads or the city housing services. If you need a student certificate as an attachment for your lease, you can get it from  the Electronic Student Affairs Office.

Student card

As an Omnia student, you are entitled to the Slice free digital student card. The student card gives you access to a range of discounts and offers. It is also possible to combine an Omnia library card with a Slice student card (slice.fi). A student card is only issued to students in vocational education, preparatory instruction and lower secondary education for adults, TUVA, or the Upper Secondary School for Adults.

The colour of the Slice student card varies by student status:

  • The Slice student card for full-time students is blue. It entitles you to HSL, VR and Matkahuolto travel discounts plus thousands of other Slice student benefits across Finland.
  • The Slice student card for part-time students is green. It entitles you to all student benefits except for VR and Matkahuolto travel discounts.

Read the instructions for activating your Slice student card.

Read the instructions for activating your Slice student card (it.omnia.fi).

Other student cards

In addition to the Slice student card, paid memberships of the SAKKI (sakkiry.fi) and OSKU (osku.fi) associations are available for vocational students and the Union of Upper Secondary School Students (lukio.fi) for students in general upper secondary school. Apprentices are not eligible for SAKKI or OSKU student cards.

Social benefits for apprentices (daily allowance, family allowance, travel and accommodation allowance)

As a student, your livelihood is guaranteed during the education provided by the educational institution. Social benefits for students, such as the travel and accommodation allowances, family allowance and daily allowance are also paid for the duration of the competence demonstration. It is recommended that students apply for social benefits in the current calendar year.

The benefits you receive during your studies are tax-free. We will report the payments of the daily allowance and family allowance to the Incomes Register. However, you will have to pay for your own learning materials and meals. The learning materials are free of charge if you are in compulsory education.

Daily allowance

The daily allowance is paid if your employer does not pay you for the period of education provided by the educational institution. The daily allowance is €15 per school day. If participation in tuition organised by the educational institution does not result in a loss of pay (for example, if school takes place on a Saturday), no daily allowance is paid.

Family allowance

You are entitled to a family allowance if your employer does not pay you for the duration of the education provided by the educational institution and you have dependent children under the age of 18. The family allowance is €17 per school day. The number of children does not affect the amount of the family allowance.

Travel and accommodation allowance

A travel allowance is paid for trips from the municipality where you live or work to the place of education if the one-way trip is longer than 10 km. If you are a student in compulsory education, the travel allowance is paid for a one-way trip of more than 7 km.

You will be reimbursed €0.33 per kilometre. You can be reimbursed for one return trip per learning period (for example, for on-site learning on consecutive days, Monday to Wednesday). If the period takes place over consecutive days, an accommodation allowance of €8 per day is paid, in addition to the allowance for one return trip. Your right to the accommodation allowance is not affected by whether you are staying at home or at the place of study.

No accommodation allowance is paid when both the student’s home and the educational institution are in the Helsinki region (Espoo, Kauniainen, Helsinki, Vantaa).

Applying for social benefits for students in Wilma

If you are entitled to social benefits for students, you can apply for the benefits in Wilma. Please note that you can only apply for the social benefits after the on-site learning has taken place.

  1. Sign in to Wilma (omnia.inschool.fi).
    1. If you have not yet activated your ID, you must first activate it. You will receive an activation letter when you start your studies. If you need help with the activation, please contact wilmahelp@omnia.fi.
    2. If you are applying for the first time or if your account number has changed:
      1. Go to Forms (Lomakkeet) > ‘Update your contact details’ (Yhteystietojen päivitys, in the blue top bar of Wilma or in the menu that opens behind the three dots on the right-hand side).
      2. Check/update your contact details and add/update your IBAN account number. Remember to save your information by clicking on Save (Tallenna tiedot).
  2. Go to Applications and Decisions (Hakemukset ja päätökset, in the blue top bar of Wilma or the menu that opens behind the three dots on the right-hand side).
  3. Click on ‘Create a new application’ (Tee uusi hakemus).
  4. Fill in the application form. You can see instructions for filling out the form under the blue information balloons in the fields. Once the application is completed, save it by clicking on Save (Tallenna tiedot).

Saving the form sends the data to Omnia’s payment processor. You can edit the information in your application after you have saved it. Please note that it is no longer possible to make changes once the decision on benefits payment has been made by the payment processor.

We aim to process applications sent by 12.00 noon on Tuesdays so that payments arrive in your account the following week. However, please note that the processing of applications may be delayed during times such as public holidays.

Insurance

Students are insured for accidents occurring during curricular activities (e.g. physical education lessons, travel to and from school, workplace learning under a training agreement) by the insurance company Pohjola, both in Finland and abroad. If a student leaves the school premises without permission, the insurance cover is not in effect.

Any accidents must be reported to your own teacher or the teacher instructing the workplace learning who will then make the necessary claims to the insurance company. While studying abroad, students must also take out other insurance policies for the entire duration of their stay abroad (including cover for accidents during leisure time, luggage insurance, and third party liability insurance), if they do not already have such insurance.

Meal allowance during workplace learning

If you are entitled to a free meal during your studies, you are also entitled to claim a meal allowance for your workplace learning if the company does not provide you with free meals.

You can apply for a meal allowance via Wilma. Once you have filled out the meal allowance application form, it is sent to the teacher for checking. The meal allowance is paid every two weeks. The payment will appear in the student’s account approximately one week after the payment date.

To complete the form, you must have a valid Omnia ID. If you have completed your studies and no longer have a valid Omnia ID, you must request a separate meal allowance form by emailing laskutus.ammatillinen@omnia.fi. Please note that the form is only for persons who no longer have access to Wilma because they have completed their studies.

See the instructions for filling out the meal allowance form in Finnish (it.omnia.fi).

Login to Wilma (omnia.inschool.fi)
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