What are the benefits of studying for a degree in a Nordic welfare state?

[AntMe]

I am a middle-aged full-time student from Finland. I have studied a lot of subjects with varying success since late 80's. I have two finished degrees in Engineering. I am here because of my unfinished degrees in Physics and Space Engineering.

The next courses I should take in Physics program are Quantum mechanics, Electromagnetism and Thermophysics and a small Nuclear physics course. In Space Engineering I should study Space environment course, Atmospheric physics, Plasma physics and a couple of orbital dynamics courses and then some Aerospace Engineering courses. Most of this is pretty advaced and very demanding stuff for me and my calculation routine is gone. Gaining the routine back is going to be hard. I am here looking for motivation for doing the work that needs to be done before I can continue my Physics related studies.

 

[phinds]

Welcome to the forum. How do you manage to be a full time student for so long? Independently wealthy? Sometimes I wish I could do that.

 

[AntMe]

Well, this is one of the benefits of the Nordic welfare state system. Studying for a degree in a University in Finland and Sweden costs usually only small student union fees (about € 110 depending on the University) for EU citizens and we even had a nice http://www.kela.fi/documents/10180/578772/Esite_STUDYING_Kela.pdf/583949f8-f126-4820-8e82-e98eb8a8fd7d. We got tuition fees for students outside EU only recently and I guess the fees for the degree programmes offered in English are still at quite tolerable level compared to some other countries. The student union fees include http://www.yths.fi/en/services/services_free_of_charge.

In some cases, it has been possible to study and receive better salary based unemployment benefits. However, my last years taxable income was about $ 3800. It is less than one month average salary for a person working in master's level engineering position. I have been looking for a decently paid master's level job for years now. I feel really priviledged being able to study disciplines like physics, space engineering and medicine practically for free now, but I could really use a break in being broke and increasing my student loan. I prefer studying interesting courses to holding my breath while searching for that job.