About 34 800 students have received a preliminary decision for the recovery of overpaid student financial aid by Kela. All students who exceed their income limit in 2016 has received the repayment proposal.
It is a proposal because Kela does not know what portion of the income was earned during periods of active study. If the reason for exceeding the annual income limit is income earned not during periods of active study but for example after graduation, the overpayment debt may be reduced or wiped out completely. Students can file a review request.
The deadline for filing a review request is 22 March 2018. The request should provide details of their studies and specify when the income was earned. Students must provide details of their studies and when they earned their income if they started a course of study, graduated or used up their maximum financial aid entitlement during 2016. In previous years, about one quarter of those who were sent a repayment proposal was new or graduate students.
The preliminary decision contains instructions on how to file a review request or agree on repayment arrangements. Students should keep track of their annual income so as not to exceed the income limit. If a student does not cancel or return financial aid, any overpayments of aid are recovered and are subject to interest at 7.5%.