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School in Finland – daycare fees from August 2026, free classes and the 2026 tuition rules

Last updated 25 September 2026Rules checked every MondayOfficial sourcesSources & methodology →

Daycare is a right from the month your child turns nine months, and school in Finland is free, lunch included. What you pay for early childhood education changed on 1 August 2026, and so did the tuition rules for non-EU/EEA university students – here is what a family needs to know.

Teacher in glasses helping a girl with her drawing at a preschool table
Photo: lordn/Adobe Stock

Moving to Finland with children? One date matters: on 1 August 2026 the fees for municipal early childhood education (varhaiskasvatus) were index-adjusted upwards, and full-cost tuition began for non-EU/EEA students starting a foreign-language degree. School in Finland itself is unchanged: comprehensive school is free, hot meal included, and every child gets a place at the local school.

Daycare fees and school are national law; Migri (Finnish Immigration Service; Migrationsverket in Swedish) decides student permits. Municipalities decide how places and languages are organised – Helsinki is the example below.

Daycare in Finland: who has a right to a place, and when to apply

A child's right to early childhood education begins from the start of the month in which the child turns nine months. Few start that early: parental leave lasts 320 working days, about 13 months, and children start on average at one and a half to two years.

Apply to your municipality at least four months ahead; if you suddenly get a job or a study place, a place can be granted within two weeks. You do not need a kotikunta (municipality of residence) – without one you count as a resident of the municipality where you live. Helsinki takes applications up to twelve months ahead and from abroad, before you have a henkilötunnus (personal identity code), if your address is in Helsinki by the start date.

Helsinki's roughly 350 municipal centres operate in Finnish, Swedish and North Sami, and most close for about five weeks from Midsummer. Kela (Social Insurance Institution) pays a private day care allowance if the provider is approved by the municipality.

How much does daycare cost in Finland from August 2026?

The fee depends on family size, gross income and hours, on a national scale. From 1 August 2026 the maximum monthly fee is €335 (previously €311), the second child pays at most €134 and each further child 20 per cent of the first child's fee; fees under €32 are not charged. Above the income threshold for your family size, the fee is 10.7 per cent of the excess; the next index adjustment is due on 1 August 2028.

Family sizeNo fee below (gross, per month)Maximum €335 from (Helsinki table)
2€4,369€7,496
3€5,635€8,762
4€6,399€9,526
5€7,163€10,290
6€7,925€11,052
Each further childThreshold raised by €295–

Source: the Ministry of Education and Culture and the City of Helsinki, read 24 September 2026.

Nationally, at most 20 hours a week costs at most 60 per cent of the full fee; 35 hours or more is full-time. Helsinki uses its own tiers (over seven hours a day 100 per cent, five to seven 80, up to five 60) and charges for at most eleven months a year. Report your income with the application, or Helsinki charges the highest fee.

Pre-primary education (esiopetus) for six-year-olds costs nothing for four hours a day anywhere in Finland, and from 1 August 2026 Helsinki gives five-year-olds four free hours a day – a city decision. Anna and her partner, with one child in full-time daycare and a joint gross income of €8,762 a month, pay the maximum €335; at €5,635 they would pay nothing.

School in Finland step by step: from pre-primary to age 18

The path is the same everywhere. Pre-primary is compulsory for one year before school, normally at six, with free transport if the journey is over five kilometres. Comprehensive school starts in the year the child turns seven, lasts nine years and is free, with one hot meal a day. Enrolment is usually in January at the local school (lähikoulu) assigned by your address.

StageAgeWhat applies
Early childhood educationFrom 9 monthsIncome-based fee, at most €335; apply four months ahead
Pre-primary (esiopetus)6Compulsory for one year; free, about four hours a day
Comprehensive school7–16Free, hot meal included; no national exams; at least 20 lessons a week in grades 1–2
Upper secondaryUntil a qualification or age 18General 2–4 years or vocational about 3

Source: InfoFinland (City of Helsinki with the ministries), read 24 September 2026.

A child who does not yet speak Finnish or Swedish gets preparatory education from the municipality, usually for one year, then moves to a normal class with Finnish or Swedish as a second language. After comprehensive school every young person must study until they complete an upper secondary qualification or turn 18.

Helsinki's options for a newly arrived child

In Helsinki every child gets an automatic place at the local school by home address, and parents may use an interpreter free of charge. For school year 2026–2027, grade 1 is for children born in 2019 and grade 9 for those born in 2011; to join grades 2–9 or mid-year, contact the principal. From 1 August 2026 preparatory education is only for pupils not born in Finland.

OptionFor whomHow it works
Local schoolEvery child, by addressAutomatic place; 86 Finnish-language and 14 Swedish-language city schools
Preparatory educationAges 6–16, not born in FinlandStart any time; 24–26 lessons a week; at most one calendar year
English-language schoolsNative or near-native English, English-medium schooling in the last 18 monthsRessu, Maunula Primary, Maunula Comprehensive and Kulosaari; language test
Temporary admission, RessuChildren in Finland temporarilyEnglish class, grades 1–9, no language test, up to two years
Bilingual classesAnyone; a test from grade 2Finnish with Chinese, English, Estonian, North Sami, Russian, Spanish or Swedish

Source: the City of Helsinki, read 24 September 2026.

The Education Division's advisory service answers on +358 9 310 44986. General upper secondary education in English is possible from 1 August 2026, but it is not intended for third-country students who come to Finland for that purpose – and from the same date such students pay tuition for upper secondary and vocational education.

University in Finland: the €100 application fee and tuition from 1 August 2026

Higher education is free in Finnish or Swedish and at doctoral level for everyone. If you are not an EU/EEA or Swiss citizen or a family member of one, you pay tuition for an English-taught Bachelor's or Master's degree, and since 2025 a non-refundable €100 application fee per starting term. For students starting on or after 1 August 2026, the Universities Act as amended by Act 658/2024 requires fees that at least cover the cost of the education; each university sets its amount. The Finnish National Agency for Education gives a range of about €8,000 to €20,000 a year.

Holders of an EU Blue Card, a permanent residence permit, a continuous A permit granted for reasons other than studies, or temporary protection pay neither fee. But if your first Finnish permit was for studies, you keep paying even after switching to a work permit, a rule in force since 1 December 2024.

Cost itemAmount 2026Who pays
Application fee€100 per starting term, since 2025Non-EU/EEA/Swiss applicants; not doctoral or Erasmus Mundus applicants
TuitionAbout €8,000–20,000 a year; full cost from 1 August 2026Non-EU/EEA students in English-taught degrees
Student healthcare fee (FSHS)€70.70 a year, in two instalments due 15 March and 15 NovemberDegree students; not EU/EEA, UK or Swiss students
Residence permit for studies€600 online, €750 on paper; €800 a month or €9,600 in the bank for a yearNon-EU/EEA students; granted for the whole degree; 30 hours of work a week on average

Source: Studyinfo, the Ministry of Education and Culture, Study in Finland, Kela and Migri, read 24 September 2026.

What to do now

StepWhatWhen
1Apply for a municipal daycare placeAt least four months before you need it
2Report your family's gross incomeWith the application, or you pay the maximum
3Enrol six-year-olds in pre-primary and seven-year-olds in schoolUsually January; mid-year, contact the principal
4Ask about preparatory education if your child has little Finnish or SwedishAs soon as you have an address
5Check your tuition and application-fee statusBefore applying to a university

Source: the City of Helsinki, InfoFinland and Studyinfo, read 24 September 2026.

Official sources

The official pages this guide is based on, read 24 September 2026. Links open the authority’s own website.

Relocate in Europe provides general information, not legal or financial advice for your individual situation. Check with the authority named above before you act – rules change, and your case may differ.