Living costs
All degree students must fund their studies and living expenses themselves. Make sure that you have adequate funding and enough of financial means to pay for possible tuition fees, your studies and living expenses for the entire period of your study.
Cost of living in Tampere
The monthly living costs for a student in Tampere for basics such as food, accommodation and transportation are on average 800-1200 euros, depending on your personal spending habits.
Examples on typical monthly expenses:
- Student accommodation 200–600 € (do note that renting from the private market is likely to cost from €600 upwards)
- Local transportation starting from 45€ (based on the cost for 30 days mobile ticket for students, see Nysse for more info)
- Food 250-450€ (estimate includes one average priced student meal per weekday and groceries at €40–90/week)
You can check some specific examples of living costs in Tampere on websites like Numbeo.
Healthcare fee and health insurance for students
Degree students are entitled to use the services of the Finnish Student Health Service (FSHS) and must pay an annual health service fee to Kela (Social Insurance Institution of Finland) for each year as an attending student. The healthcare fee entitles you to general health, dental and mental health services.
Tampere University or TAMK do not provide health insurance for international students, so please make sure you have valid health insurance during your studies. Without proper insurance, the costs of treatment at a hospital may rise to several hundreds or thousands of euros if you need hospital care or laboratory tests.
Student union membership fees
All Tampere University Bachelor’s and Master’s degree students are members of the Student Union (TREY) and therefore obligated to pay the the Student Union membership fee. The membership entitles you to various benefits, discounts and services offered directly or indirectly by the Student Union. For the whole academic year 2024-2025, the fee is 65 euros.
Doctoral students can also join to the Student Union, but their membership is voluntary and as their membership does not include all services, the fee for doctoral students is smaller.
At TAMK degree students can choose whether they wish to join the Student Union (Tamko) and you can choose an annual payment of 42 euros or a multiyear membership (see pricing: link to Tamko website). Multiyear membership is the cheapest and easiest membership option for degree students. Half a year memberships are meant for exchange students.
Residence permit
Finnish Immigration Service requires sufficient financial resources from students applying for residence permit. You must have funds for living in Finland during the entire period of validity of your residence permit. As of November 2024, you need to have at least 800 euros per month at your disposal to be able to pay for your accommodation, food and other needs. More information on the requirements is available on Migri's website.
Other costs
There are also occasional expenses such as costs of study material or course books. It is usually not necessary to purchase books as most of the course books are available from the University Library. Therefore, the cost of study material should remain relatively low.
Please note that international students who come to Finland only for their studies are usually not covered by the Finnish social security, and thus not entitled to the financial aid for students by the Finnish government. For more information, please visit the Kela website.
