Everyday life of a student

It’s easier to enjoy student life when your day-to-day necessities are in order. This section aims to answer the practical questions about housing, income and health care. Fortunately, there is no need to worry. We students are pretty well taken care of – our student union AYY, the social security institution KELA and the Finnish Student Health Service YTHS, amongst others, are here to help us.

Housing

AYY owns apartments that are rented out to students of Aalto University. However, AYY does not have adequate housing for all Aalto University students, so you should also search for an apartment through other channels. First-year students and students moving from outside the metropolitan area have priority in the housing queue. You can apply for housing as soon as you receive the confirmation of your place of study. A so-called freshman point is available for AYY’s shared apartment queues. In order to receive the freshman point, you must apply for housing no later than in July or December, depending on when your studies begin.

Applying for AYY’s housing

Get to know the housing section on AYY’s website: ayy.fi/asuminen Carefully read through the application info: ayy.fi/asuminen/asunnonhakijat/ hakuinfo Apply for AYY’s housing through Domo system: domo.ayy.fi

English sites are also available, just click the flag icon on the upper left corner.

Questions concerning housing are addressed to AYY’s Housing Office:

Contact forms: https://www.ayy.fi/fi/asuminen/kysy-asumisesta Phone number: 050 520 9410 Address: Otakaari 11, 02150 Espoo

Other housing options in the metropolitan area

Foundation for Student Housing in the Helsinki Region, HOAS, is the largest student housing provider in the metropolitan area: hoas.fi Student nations of the University of Helsinki: osakunta.fi/fi/osakunnat/

Student financial aid

Student financial aid is a social benefit, which consists of three parts:

Study grant Housing supplement (students in rental housing) Student loan

In order to receive student financial aid, you must gain at least 5 ECTS per supported month. However, the minimum is 20 ECTS per academic year, regardless of the number of months for which you receive student financial aid. In addition, since student financial aid is a social benefit, the amount of your income has an effect on how many months of student financial aid you are entitled to during the year. Students who begin their academic studies for the first time in 2020 have 30 months of financial aid for completing the lower university degree. When students have completed their Bachelor’s degree and continue to the Master’s degree, they are entitled to 21 additional months of financial aid. However, a student can use no more than 48 financial aid months in total for completing both of the degrees. Further information at kela.fi/opintotuki. In recent years, there have been many changes to the student financial aid, so remember to check and ask if anything is unclear to you! More info can be found from into.aalto. fi (Student life Financial aid).

Monitor your income

If you work or get a summer job among studies and earn more than the income limits of student financial aid allows, you need to return the extra financial aid on your own initiative or cancel the aid in advance for the number of months necessary. Read more at kela.fi/opintotuki-omat-tulot. You should avoid using financial aid months ‘unnecessarily’, as you will not get back the months already used, even if you still have studies left. Thus, do not use your financial aid for a sick leave or a holiday! If your sick leave is prolonged, you can apply for sickness allowance. Find more information at kela.fi/sairauspaivaraha_opiskelijalle.

Health and wellbeing Finnish Student Health Service (YTHS)

The Finnish Student Health Service (FSHS or YTHS in Finnish) takes care of university students’ health. You can always make an appointment with FSHS when you are in need of health services. AYY’s membership fee includes the insurance-based fee of FSHS. However, if FSHS is closed or you cannot make an appointment, you can always use your own municipal health centre or emergency services. During your first year of studies, you will receive a request to participate in the electronic health survey of FSHS (SÄTKY) which is designed for reviewing the health of the firstyear students. It is very important that you respond to it. The survey will be sent to you via the online service Self and the registration is needed. After responding to the survey, you will receive an invitation to visit a public health nurse and/or dental care if necessary.

FSHS health centres in the metropolitan area

Otaniemi: Otakaari 12, Espoo Töölö: Töölönkatu 37 A, Helsinki

You may use the services of any health centre, also in other municipalities, if you wish to do so. Further information at yths.fi.

In case of any concerns or exhaustion, you can turn to the students’ support centre Nyyti and the university pastors of Aalto. Further information at nyyti.fi and into.aalto.fi (Student life → Support for studying → University chaplains ). With study-related challenges, you can turn to student affairs services at your school or Aalto’s study psychologists, opintopsykologi@ aalto.fi.

Inappropriate behaviour and harassment

You do not have to tolerate inappropriate behaviour. If you have been treated inappropriately, the first step is to immediately tell the person in question that you do not approve his/her actions and insist the person to stop. If you have witnessed harassment or experienced harassment yourself, you can contact AYY’s trained harassment contact people Annika Mällinen hairinta-nainen@ayy.fi and Lauri Jurvanen hairinta-mies@ayy.fi for help and support. The service is strictly confidential. You can also get in touch with the Manager of Academic Affairs of Aalto BIZ Pia Lahti pia.lahti@aalto.fi, KY Board member Paula Malka paula.malka@ky.fi or your own tutor. At events, you can also turn to the event organizers or anyone from KY Office for help.

University Sport Services – UniSport

UniSport offers Aalto University students inexpensive sports services and has sports facilities on the City Centre Campus of the University of Helsinki as well as in Kumpula, Meilahti, Otaniemi and Töölö. UniSport offers, amongst other things, group exercise classes, ball games, gym and various courses. Further information at unisport.fi. Aalto BIZ sports tutors, better known as KY’s club EnerKY, gladly help you to explore sports services. With EnerKY, it is easy to try out new sports and UniSport’s group exercise classes or extensive gyms. EnerKY makes sure that everyone can find meaningful ways to exercise and maintain an active lifestyle in a new situation in life. Ask your own tutor for more information about sports tutoring at Aalto BIZ!

Transportation Metropolitan area

A 45% discount is granted to students if they are registered within the HSL region (Espoo, Helsinki, Kauniainen, Kerava, Kirkkonummi, Vantaa) and have the student status registered on their HSL travel card. The student discount is also granted to international exchange students residing temporarily within the regional ticket areat. Further information on fares, the purchase of the travel card and the discount ticket application can be found at hsl.fi/liput-ja-hinnat. More specific routes and schedules are available on the timetables of transport companies or on the Journey Planner at reittiopas.fi, where you can easily find the current timetables and routes of public transport.

Students and long-distance transport

VR offers a student discount on long-distance train journeys. Further information can be found on VR’s website at vr.fi. The student discounts of Matkahuolto can be found at matkahuolto.fi. You need to have your valid student card with you both on the train and the bus in order to be eligible for the student discount. Note that a receipt of a paid student union membership fee does not entitle you to the discount!

Student meal subsidy

By presenting a valid student card or a receipt of a paid student union membership fee, you can get the student discount at student restaurants subsidized by Kela. Usually you need to pay around 2,6 euros for your lunch.

KY Legal Advisor

KY’s legal advisor Matti Marttunen assists students in legal matters in confidence. The legal advisor is on duty once a week. Specific duty hours and location will be announced at the beginning of the academic year at ky.fi. You can also reach the legal advisor via email at matti. marttunen@ky.fi.

Student card

As a student you get to enjoy various discounts and benefits – but in order to be eligible, you need to proof your student status by showing a valid student card. After having paid the membership fee of your student union, you may download the Frank App on Google Play or App Store to your phone to use your digital student card. If you want to order the physical card to show your student status, you will find the instructions at frank.fi/en/studentcard/. Once your student card is ready, Frank will deliver it to you at home. During the first weeks of autumn, this may take a while as every new student will be ordering their card simultaneously. After receiving the card, get an updated year tag from AYY and the KY Sticker. Ask your tutor about the temporary pick-up points or visit AYY’s office during the service hours. You can get the KY Sticker from KY Office.