About 3,000 students will have to wait to get housing benefit for September, said the national social insurance institution- Kela in a press release on Thursday. Kela received a large number of applications for the housing supplement for students due to recent changes in the housing benefits resulting the delay. Most of these students will be paid their benefits by 3 September at the latest and Kela apologised for the delay. The processing times of applications for student financial aid and the housing supplement for students continue to be longer than usual at Kela. The majority of new and returning higher education students have been granted the study grant and the government loan guarantee. These funds can be used as a stopgap measure to cover housing costs at the beginning of the academic term. In addition, returning higher education students have been able to draw down their student loan funds since 1 August 2025, said Kela. “Both new and returning students who have already received a decision on their study grant and loan guarantee can use these funds as a stopgap measure in September. Students who have not yet received a decision on their student housing supplement will receive one by mid-September at the latest,” said Marianne Schauman-Lindberg, Head of the Centre for Student Benefits of Kela. As of 27 August, about 47,000 applications for student financial aid submitted by higher education students were being processed at Kela. According to Kela, this situation is better than the situation of 7 August, when 82,000 applications were waiting in queue for processing. It is currently taking Kela over 14 days to process applications submitted by higher education students. Schauman-Lindberg, however, said that the situation will return to normal next week.