The Finnish Student Health Service (FSHS) announced on 28 May 2026 that it would begin change negotiations. This announcement is a stark reminder of what happens when an attempt is made to reconcile the growing service needs of higher education students with a funding model that does not include long-term planning, discretionary capital for changes or the accumulation of a buffer.

The current funding model is based on a one-year review period, during which the budget must be balanced. If there are insufficient funds to cover a growing service need during the funding period, the current funding model makes it uncertain whether the situation can be resolved. This complicates proactive financial management and may be reflected in basic functions, service availability and compliance with the care guarantee.

On the other hand, if there are unused funds, the foundation would not be able to keep the surplus from that financial year as a buffer for a rainy day or to use it to improve services. Instead, the funds would be returned to the State. Under the current funding model, external donations or other self-generated revenue would not increase the FSHS’s financial flexibility either, as they would automatically reduce the State funding for the current funding period by a corresponding amount.

This model does not enable flexible or proactive financial management in a situation where service needs continue to increase year-over-year and operations should still be developed with a long-term approach, without neglecting compliance with the care guarantee.

The FSHS is operating in an environment where, since the Covid-19 pandemic, the need for services has steadily increased. In 2025, the FSHS was in contact with customers over 860,000 times, and the number of students seeking treatment increased by almost 10,000 from the previous year. A growing need for services requires the foundation to continuously develop and enhance its operations in order to ensure the students’ access to care and the quality of services within the limits of the available funding.

However, the current funding model makes this unreasonably difficult. FSHS has everything it needs to act as a frontrunner in student health care services and to develop solutions that could benefit the entire Finnish social and health care system. However, the current funding model does not encourage this. Instead, it forces the foundation to focus on merely getting by from year to year. The change negotiations that have begun are a clear indication of how difficult the situation can become when an organisation is expected to simultaneously undergo reforms, meet a growing need for services and stay within a tight annual budget.

The problem is not that the foundation is unable to operate effectively within its current financial framework. SYL and SAMOK fully understand that basing activities on additional funding is not sustainable or realistic. However, in this case, problems can also be solve without spending additional euros.

The financing model for higher education students’ health care services requires more flexibility and long-term thinking. One possible solution would be a shift to a two-year funding cycle or another similar model, where the finances of the FSHS would be reviewed over a longer period than at present. This would allow the foundation to better balance its operations, implement the necessary development measures and respond to changing service needs without being under constant short-term pressure. At the same time, the steering effect fiscal discipline would not disappear: a longer review period would mean better conditions for proactive and responsible financial management.

Students must continue to have the right to accessible, high-quality and functional health services. The FSHS has demonstrated that it is capable of reforming itself and meeting current-day demands. The most recent example of this is the new YHTSDigi digital service channel with its related operational changes, through which the FSHS is seeking new ways to enhance and improve its operations in a way that would – at best – benefit the entire Finnish social and health care field.

Students have also rated the services of the FSHS exceptionally positively. This indicates that the work done by student health care services is effective and meaningful to students. This work should not be hindered by a model that turns necessary reforms into a financial risk instead of recognising them as a part of responsible service delivery.

Higher education students need a health care model that enables responsible financial management, but also the development of operations, responding to service needs and maintaining the care guarantee now and in the future.

Further information:

Jesse Häyhä
Social Policy Adviser, SYL
+358 44 796 1200
jesse.hayha@syl.fi

Jere Tapio
Senior Advisor in Well-being Policy, SAMOK
+358 40 760 9463
jere.tapio@samok.fi