Eligibility for student membership
As a student, you can - under a few conditions - apply for free membership of an unemployment insurance fund. If you have been a student member of an unemployment insurance fund for at least 1 year, you will be eligible for benefits immediately after your graduation.
There are a number of requirements you must fulfil in order to be eligible for free student membership. Some of the requirements are determined by your age.
The maximum period of free student membership of an unemployment insurance fund is 5 years. This period will not be reset if you become a member of another unemployment insurance fund.
The requirements are the same for all unemployment insurance funds and are laid down by law.
If you are below the age of 30, you must be able to meet three criteria in order to be eligible for free student membership:
- I am enrolled in a study programme of at least 18 months (standardized) and is a 90 ECTS programme.
- I was resident and staying in Denmark immediately before the study programme started
- I do not have an annual income exceeding DKK 280,210 (including the state educational grant (SU))
The maximum period of free student membership of an unemployment insurance fund is 5 years.
After your 30th birthday, the requirements are stricter than before your 30th birthday:
You must be able to tick off the following five criteria:
- I am enrolled in a study programme of at least 18 months (standardized) and is a 90 ECTS programme.
- I was resident and staying in Denmark immediately before the study programme started
- I do not have an income exceeding DKK 280,210 per year (including the state educational grant (SU))
- I will pay into the early retirement scheme* for the duration of my student membership after my 30th birthday
- I am entitled to receive benefits as a salary earner
*You must have joined and started paying into the early retirement scheme no later than on the day of your 30th birthday. The amount you must pay into the early retirement scheme is currently DKK 1,560 for every quarter. You will be able to recover the amounts paid into the early retirement scheme later.
If you are not eligible for free student membership
If you are not eligible for free student membership, there are two other ways to join CA: Either by choosing a membership with an option to reduce your membership fee or by waiting to join until you have completed your studies.
If you are not eligible for a free student membership for the entire duration of your study programme (or part of it), it may be a good idea financially to join CA and become a member the last year before you complete your studies. Even if you have to pay a membership fee for a period of time until your graduation.
If you join in time to become a member for at least one year before completing your studies, this means that you will be entitled to receive benefits already the day after you have completed your studies. If you have been a member for less than one year, the earliest you can get benefits is one month after completing your studies.
The student membership may thus give you one month's extra benefits if you do not have a job after graduation. This translates into DKK 15,868, if you are a parent with dependent children, and DKK 13,836, if you do not have any children. For comparison purposes, the membership fee is DKK 505 per month, and this amount is deductible.
If you opt for this solution, you should still remember to let us know when you have passed your last exam. You can do that by submitting the form Change to new graduate status on graduation.
If your study programme is a certified study programme under the state educational grant scheme, you may apply for an exemption from the part of the membership fee which is called an "administration fee". This way, your total monthly membership fee will be reduced to DKK 368 per month.
Apply for exemption from payment of administration fee
You may also decide to become part-time insured and thus reduce your total monthly membership fee to DKK 245 per month.
Please contact us for further advice if you are considering becoming part-time insured.
If, for whatever reason, you have not joined CA as a student member, you may join us when you have completed your studies instead.
In that case, you will have no benefits rights until one month after having completed your studies. This is what is known as a waiting period, and it is mandatory. The other CA membership services will be available to you from your first day of membership.
In order to become a new graduate member, you must join us no later than 14 days after you have completed your studies.
If you wish to make sure that your CA membership is in place, you may join us up to 3 months before completing your studies. Write to us that you want to become a member with effect from the day when you complete your studies.
Then you will only need to send us a confirmation message 14 days after completing your studies. This way, you will only have to pay the membership fee from that date.
The general rule is that you will be considered to have completed your studies the day you receive your last grade.
If you complete your studies by submission of a thesis or dissertation
You will be considered to have completed your studies the day your grade is announced. If you complete your studies by submitting a thesis without an oral defence, you will be considered to have completed your studies the day your supervisor and examiner sign an advance approval form. Otherwise, it will be the day you receive your grade.
If you complete your studies with an exam
If you complete your studies with an oral exam, you will be considered to have completed your studies on the day of the exam. If you complete your studies by sitting a written exam, you will be considered to have completed your studies on the day you receive your grade.
You may also use the date your degree certificate is issued.
What happens if you haven't joined the unemployment insurance fund at least 14 days after receiving your grade or advance approval form? Then you will be considered to have completed your studies on the date your degree certificate is issued. However, the certificate must be issued at least two months after the studies have been completed.