Northland College is launching the Sisu Promise to support Finlandia University students in response to the closure of Finlandia University at the end of the spring 2023 semester. The Sisu Promise offers automatic admissions, low tuition, and generous credit transfer for qualifying Finlandia students.
All Finlandia University students are guaranteed automatic admission with a cumulative GPA of 2.5 or higher when they apply to Northland College at northland.edu/apply or through the Common App. In addition to automatic admissions for those who qualify, a personalized coordinator will work with all transfer students to guide them through the transfer and onboarding process.
Under the Sisu Promise, full-time students who transfer from Finlandia will not pay more than $4,000 per year in tuition if their family’s adjusted gross income (AGI) is less than $70,000. Students will still be responsible for student fees, course fees, and housing and meal plans if they choose to live on campus.
Recognizing the unique difficulties students face with this unexpected transition, Northland College will waive housing and meal plan requirements for Finlandia students to mirror expectations at FinnU. Finlandia students can still opt to live on campus at Northland.
Finlandia University and Northland College share many things in common, making Northland College—the closest private college to Finlandia—an exceptionally close match to the Finlandia Lion experience.
The two institutions are located within minutes of Lake Superior in similarly sized Northwoods communities. Both host intimate learning communities with small class sizes and personal, hands-on approaches to education. Northland and Finlandia both feature robust NCAA DIII athletics programs with a nearly identical set of athletics offerings.
Northland College offers many of the same academic programs that Finlandia does. While there are some differences between the two, several of Finlandia’s programs are closely aligned with a similar major or minor at Northland. Students who transfer from Finlandia can also choose from Northland’s unique offerings or potentially enhance and adapt their current area of study to fit more specified areas of interest with Northland College’s directed studies major.
“We respect and applaud the role Finlandia has played in educating thousands of students over the last century,” shared Northland College President Chad Dayton. “We recognize this is a difficult time as Finlandia’s students, faculty, and staff consider their futures, and we offer our compassion to our neighbors to the north.”
Northland College encourages students who do not qualify for automatic admissions or the Sisu Promise’s reduced tuition rate to apply, as well. The College’s transfer coordinator will also offer personalized assistance with the admissions process to those students. The College offers financial aid to 100 percent of full-time, degree-seeking students.
About Finlandia university
Finlandia University is a private, nonprofit 501(c)(3), HLC accredited, co-educational liberal arts college affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Established in 1896 by Finnish immigrants as Suomi College, the school is located in the town of Hancock in Michigan’s northernmost region, the Keweenaw Peninsula.
About Northland College
Northland College is a private environmental liberal arts college located just blocks away from Lake Superior in Ashland, Wisconsin. Founded in 1892, the College adopted a bold new mission and made history in 1974 as the first college in the country to fully integrate an environmental focus with its liberal arts curriculum. Today, Northland College is a powerful and intimate learning community of about five hundred students from across the United States and beyond.
Photo credit: Brianna Hauke
