The first student from Finland has recently joined the Ab-Initio school at Baltic Aviation Academy. Tomi Salonen took advantage of the opportunity to become a pilot in a much more economical way abroad and had his government sponsor it.
Scandinavian countries have been known to provide free education and in addition to that, encourage students to acquire their degrees abroad by providing government study loans with small interest rates. According to Tomi Salonen, CPL modular student at Baltic Aviation Academy, education in Finland is free, however foreign educational institutions need to meet the requirements of the Ministry of Education and Culture of Finland to have Finish students come study with the governmental support. From now on, Finish students who come to Baltic Aviation Academy will have an easy way to receive the loan, accommodation and support funding from the government.
Other Scandinavian countries offer similar governmental support, yet each one has slightly different requirements for both the educational institution and the student: all students must be EU citizens, with a legal residency in the country for a minimum of two years; Denmark requires that qualifications would be usable in the country; Norway provides support only for the bachelor degree education, which can be acquired when studying towards Aviation Management degree through Baltic Aviation Academy.
Finish student who is a full time student abroad receives €600 per month towards tuition, and in addition to that €210 per month for accommodation expenses and €268 per month for student support. The most important part is that only the loan towards the tuition receives 0.07% interest and needs to be paid back over the 25 year period, with the payback period starting two years after the start of the employment while accommodation and student support funding does not need to be paid back at all.
Tomi’s plan is to graduate from Baltic Aviation Academy in 2,5 years and then return back to Finland to receive his line training with one of the domestic airlines and eventually fly the Airbus A380 or cargo planes all around the world. Finland’s government has taken a huge step into making Tomi’s dream come true. Baltic Aviation Academy is one of the places to reach that dream, and just like Tomi, kick-start the career with the governmental support.
