Tuition

Students pay tuition fees based on their study right, NOT on the amount of gained credits nor enrollments to courses. If person is a student of Centria UAS enrolled as present, he/she is obliged to pay tuition fees.  

• Student can enroll for as many courses as he/she wishes, the tuition fees stay unchanged 

• Student can gain unlimited amount of credits per semester, the tuition fees stay unchanged 

• Student who decides NOT to participate in the education anyhow (no enrollments for courses, no credits gained), will still be charged the tuition fees, since the fees are based on the study right 

There are no tuition fees for those students who 

• have started their studies before 1 August, 2017 

• are citizens of EU/EEA/Switzerland 

• have an EU Blue Card 

• have a continuous residence permit card in Finland, Type A permit (NB: A continuous residence permit (A-type permit) granted for studying in Finland (from 15 April 2022 onwards) doesn’t exempt you from paying the tuition fee) 

• have a permanent residence permit card in Finland, Type P permit 

• have an EU residence permit for third-country citizens with long-term residence permit card in Finland (Type P-EU) 

• have an EU Family Member’s Residence Card in Finland 

More information considering the tuition fees and who is obliged to pay them, can be found on the Studyinfo.fi site and accessed by using the link below: 

Am I required to pay tuition fees?

Are you a Finnish citizen? 

Yes ⇒ You are not required to pay tuition fees. No ⇒ next question 

Are you married to a Finnish citizen or EU citizen? 

Being married to a Finnish citizen or EU citizen doesn’t automatically make one exempt from paying fees. In order to be exempted from paying them, you need to have a residence card for a family member of an EU citizen in Finland. 

To prove your residency status, please submit a copy of your residence card as attachment to your application documents. 

If you live abroad and wish to apply to Finland to pursue studies, you should apply for your residence permit as soon as possible with the Finnish Immigration Service. 

For more information please see: 

Spouse of a Finnish citizen (Finnish Immigration Service) 

No ⇒ Next question 

Do you have citizenship in a European Union (EU) country, European Economic Area (EEA) country, or Switzerland? 

Yes ⇒ You are not required to pay tuition fees. 

All citizens of the European Union (EU) and the European Economic Area (EEA) countries, plus citizens of Switzerland, are not required to pay tuition fees. For a list of these countries, please see the list of EU/EEA countries. 

All EU/EEA and Swiss citizens are required to submit proof of their citizenship to Admissions services in Finland. Please submit a copy of your valid passport, valid national ID card, or valid identity card where your citizenship is indicated as an attachment to your application. 

No ⇒ Next question 

Do you have a permanent Finnish residence permit or a long-term resident’s EU residence permit (P,P-EU)? 

Yes ⇒ You are not required to pay tuition fees. 

Individuals with permanent Finnish residence permit or long-term resident’s EU residence permit in Finland are not required to pay tuition fees. 

To prove your residence status, please submit a copy of your residence permit card as attachment to your application documents. A long-term resident’s EU residence permit card has a marking “P or P-EU” as a type of the permit. If you have a long-term resident’s EU residence permit granted in another EU-country, you need to apply for residence permit in Finland. If your Finnish residence permit card is marked type A or B please see the next question. 

For more information, please see 

Residence permit card (Finnish Immigration Service)  No ⇒ next question 

Do you have a fixed-term continuous residence permit (type A)? 

Yes ⇒ You are not required to pay tuition fees. 

Individuals with fixed-term continuous residence Finnish residence permit are not required to pay tuition fees. 

NB: A continuous residence permit (A-type permit) granted for studying in Finland (from 15 April 2022 onwards) doesn’t exempt you from paying the tuition fee. 

To prove your residence status, please submit a copy of your residence permit card as attachment to your application documents. A fixed-term continuous residence permit card has a marking “A” as a type of the permit. 

For more information, please see 

Residence permit card (Finnish Immigration Service)"Go to the pages of Finnish Immigration Service"  No ⇒ Next question 

Do you have an EU Blue Card? 

Yes ⇒ You are not required to pay tuition fees. 

Applicants who have been granted an EU Blue Card in Finland do not have to pay tuition fees. An EU Blue Card is a residence permit card with a marking “EU Blue Card” as a type of the permit. 

To prove your residency status, please submit a copy of your residence permit card as attachment to your application documents. 

For more information, please see 

Residence permit card (Finnish Immigration Service) "Go to the pages of Finnish Immigration Service" 

The EU Blue Card for work that requires high level competence (Finnish Immigration Service) 

No ⇒ Next question 

Are you applying for doctoral studies (third cycle) in Finland? 

Yes ⇒ You are not required to pay tuition fees. 

No ⇒ Next question 

Were you/will you be registered for a study programme in Finland when you submit your application? 

Yes ⇒ Your registration status does not exempt you from paying tuition fees. 

Students who apply for a new course or programme that starts in 1 Jan 2017 or later are required to pay tuition fees for that programme. If you are currently a student in a programme, you may finish the programme without having to pay tuition fees. 

No ⇒ Next question 

Are you applying to study in a degree programme taught in Finnish or Swedish? 

Yes ⇒ Student studying in programmes taught in Finnish or Swedish are not required to pay fees regardless of their nationality. 

Fees will be charged from students from outside the EU or European Economic Area (EEA) studying towards bachelor or master level degrees in languages other than Finnish or Swedish at universities of applied sciences (UAS) and universities. 

No ⇒ Next question 

Are you registered at a foreign university and will be studying in Finland on a temporary basis as part of an official study abroad programme as an exchange student? 

Yes ⇒ You are not required to pay tuition fees. 

No ⇒ please see the next question. 

Do you have a fixed-term temporary residence permit (type B)? 

Yes ⇒ It is likely that you are required to pay tuition fees. 

In order to start your studies you need to apply for a temporary residence permit (type B). You can apply for residence permit after receiving your study offer. If you are granted a residence permit type B, you are required to pay tuition fees. 

No ⇒ It is likely that you are required to pay tuition fees. 

What kind of residence permit or a visa i need? 

You need a residence permit when you come to Finland to study for over 90 days and you are not an EU-citizen or citizen of Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway or Switzerland. 

Studying in Finland (Finnish Immigration Service) 

Residence permit application for studies (Finnish Immigration Service) 

Who decides if I will be exempted from paying the tuition fee? 

Finnish universities and universities of applied sciences make the decision whether you are required to pay fees or not based only on the Finnish Immigration Service’s residence permit decision, which is checked from the copy of your residence permit card attached to your application documents. 

If you have applied for residence permit but have not received the decision by the date when the tuition fee is due, you will have to pay the fee. 

Scholarships 

Finnish higher education institutions offer a range of scholarship options for those non-EU/EEA students who are required to pay tuition fees. 

Each university and university of applied sciences (UAS) has its own scholarship system. You usually apply for the scholarship from the university at the same time when you apply for admission. 

Tuition fees and scholarships for 2024/2025−

Centria UAS offers a scholarship programme for students who are subject to paying tuition fees. The applicable tuition fee must be paid in full according to instructions, instalments are not possible.

Tuition fees and scholarships for academic year 2024/2025

For terms that go over the normative duration of studies, tuition fees will be paid in full without scholarships.

Tuition fees and scholarships for 2023/2024

− 

Centria UAS offers a scholarship programme for students who are subject to paying tuition fees. (Applicable tuition fee must be paid in full according to instructions, no installments possible) 

Early bird discount

Student gets an early bird discount of 1500 € of the first year’s tuition fee if the study place is accepted and the tuition fee paid within two weeks after the notification. The discount will be reduced from the first year’s payment. Detailed instructions on how to pay the tuition fee will be sent along with an acceptance letter. 

Tuition fees and scholarships of students continuing their studies 

Tuition fees for the second and following academic year are paid in halves. The first invoice to cover expenses for the fall semester studies will be always sent out in the spring semester (May). The second invoice will be sent out in the following fall semester (November). However, the second half of the tuition fees can be avoided if student qualifies for a scholarship. Scholarship application is sent to our students every fall via email during September/October. 

Centria UAS offers a 50 % scholarship as a waiver to all students who complete 60 ECTS (study credits) in the previous academic year. 

If student applies and qualifies for the scholarship, he/she will not be sent an invoice in fall semester (November). 

Refund policy

If an applicant receives a negative residence permit decision and based on that is not able to start studies at the beginning of fall semester, the tuition fee can be under certain conditions refunded. 

• In order to be able to get the tuition fee back, applicant needs to send a copy of the negative decision from the Immigration Office to admissions@centria.fi, as well as attach a copy of an original payment receipt and filled ‘tuition fee refund’ application. Also, the applicant has to be able to prove that he or she has applied for the residence permit well in time (as soon as possible after receiving the admission letter and paying the tuition fee), to be able to start the studies at the beginning of his or her starting semester. 

• Applicant is not able to apply for a tuition fee refund if he or she has withdrawn the residence permit application himself or herself and that way interrupted the residence permit process and forced the Immigration Office to abort the application process. 

• If negative residence permit decision is received, applicant should notify Centria UAS as soon as possible. Tuition fees will not be refunded after the given due date has passed. 

• The detailed refund policy is always mentioned in the acceptance letter, which is sent to newly accepted students along with notification of student selection. 

Students (starting their studies in fall 2023) who wish to apply for the tuition fee refund after receiving a negative residence permit decision, will get a full refund of the tuition fee (after the handling fee deduction of 250 euros) if certain conditions are met. The negative decision as well as the notification of withdrawal have to be submitted to Centria by 30 September 2023 the latest. After the deadline, full tuition fees will not be refunded even if a negative decision is received. 

If a negative decision is received after this but before 31 December 2023, half of the paid tuition fee (spring semester) can be refunded based on application. To receive refund of half of the paid fee, the negative decision as well as the notification of withdrawal have to be submitted to Centria by 31 December 2023 the latest.