Upper secondary school abroad

This is information for students who are attending their entire upper secondary education in a country outside the Nordic region.

Upper secondary education abroad

If you live with your parents, you only receive the grant for course materials. Most people who do not live with their parets receive for one academic year
  • grant for course materials of NOK 1,359
  • housing grant of NOK 6,677 per month
  • travel grant from NOK1,036 og 5,640

Upper secondary education outside of the Nordic region

You can get support for upper secondary education outside of the Nordic region, if you meet one of the following terms.

Residing abroad due to special circumstances (illness)

If you are residing abroad for a limited period of time due to your own illness, you may apply for support.

The need to reside abroad due to illness must be confirmed by a doctor.

If your family is residing abroad due to illness on the part of one of your parents or your spouse, you may apply for support, even if the stay is not for a limited period of time.

In order to receive support according to these rules, the upper secondary education you will attending must correspond to upper secondary education in Norway. You must also fullfill the conditions for having the right to upper secondary education according to the Education Act. In addition, you must:

  • not yet have study or vocational qualifications. This means that you have not yet completed a university and college preparatory or vocational education programme
  • not turn more than 24 years of age in the calendar year the school starts

French lycées

You may be eligible for support if you will be attending a French lycée and have been admitted through the Institut français de Norvège or the Norwegian Directorate for Higher Education and Skills (HK-dir).

United World College

You may be eligible for support if you will be attending a United World College and have been admitted through the Norwegian Directorate for Higher Education and Skills (HK-dir).

Vocational training not available in Norway or that is considered a protected traditional craft

You may be eligible for support if you will be attending vocational education at a level equal to upper secondary education abroad and:

If the vocational education abroad is equivalent to Norwegian vocational school, you may be eligible for the same support as those attending vocational school in Norway.

Go to applicatopn

Housing grant

You can receive
NOK 6,677
per month

When you attend upper secondary school abroad, you may be eligible for a housing grant if you do not live together with your parents.

No separate application form is required for this, but you need to tick that you will be living away from your parents in the usual application form for grants.

Grants for travel

Support for
two trips home
for a full academic year

If you live abroad and away from your parents outside of the Nordic region, you may be eligible for travel support.

If you study abroad for the full academic year, 17,5 per cent of the travel support is a grant, while 82,5% is a loan. If you study abroad for a single semester, 35 per cent is a grant, and 65 percent a loan. Everyone is entitled to the grant element and you can choose to also apply for the loan element. The loan must be repaid later.

No separate application form is required for travel support, it is part of the usual application form.

Amount for various continents

The amounts are intended as subsidies for two round trips during the year:

Continent NOK, grants NOK, loans
Europe 1 036 5 920
North and Central America 3 866 22 092
Oceania 5 640 32 228
South America 4 950 28 284
Asia 3 557 20 328
Africa 4 258 24 332

Travels within Norway

If you also have to travel within Norway to get to Oslo Airport, you will receive a subsidy for two return trips in Norway for each kilometre you have to travel:

  • 0-300 kilometres: NOK 2,15 per kilometre
  • 301-1,500 kilometres:  NOK 1.19 per kilometre
  • 1,500 kilometres or more: NOK 0.43 per kilometre

The entire sum is paid as a grant, but we will deduct an excess of NOK 1,401. To calculate how much you can get for travels within Norway, you must calculate the amount for one travel and multiply with four (two return trips) and subtract the excess of NOK 899. 

Are you above the age of 18 and want to take out a loan?

You may borrow up to
NOK 3,851
per month if you live away from home

If you are above the age of 18 and don’t live with your parents, you may borrow up to NOK 3,851 per month.

The loan is not means-tested against income. This means that you can receive the loan regardless of how much you or your parents earn.

The loan must be repaid

This is a loan you must repay. When you no longer receive grants and loans from Lånekassen, interest accrues on the loan and you must repay it. You must pay the entire loan plus interest, but you repay it in monthly instalments.

How to apply

There is no separate application for loans. When you apply for grants and check the box indicating that you are living away from home, you are asked if you also want to apply for a loan.

Up to
NOK 111,974
in tuition fee grants

Tuition fees

If you will be attending a school where tuition fees are payable, you may be eligible for more support.

Tuition fee grants

You may be eligible for a grant to pay some of your tuition fees. The grant is for up to 85 per cent of tuition fees, but there is an upper limit of NOK 107,875 per year.

Grants are available for tuition fees only but do not cover, for example, programme fees payable to an exchange organisation. The school must verify that you pay tuition fees.

A separate application form is available to apply for a grant to cover parts of tuition fees.

Tuition fees at Norwegian upper secondary schools in Spain

If you attend one of the Norwegian upper secondary schools in Spain, you are not eligible for grants to cover tuition fees. The reason for that is that these schools receive government grants from Norway. You can; however, apply for a loan to cover tuition fees up to NOK 31,032 per year.

Loans for tuition fees

You may be eligible for a loan to pay tuition fees. The loan can be up to NOK 32,211 per year. This is in situations where you are not eligible for tuition fee grants, or if your tuition fee grants is not enough to cover the entire tuition fee.

Go to the application form for grants for tuition fees
Grant for course material expences

If you are taking all years of upper secondary school abroad, you will receive  NOK 1,359 in grant. If you are taking only parts of upper secondary school abroad you will receive a grant for course materials in accordance with the rates for the programme of education you are following in Norway.

Grant for course materials
Does your family have a strained economy?

If your parents have a strained economy, you may be entitled to more grant.

The limits for how low your parents' income must be vary. This is because this also affects whether you can receive an income-dependent grant:

  • whether your parents live together
  • whether your parents have new partners
  • how many siblings you have
Check if you are entitled to this grant
Language grant

You may be entitled to a grant or loan to attend a language course if teaching takes place in a language other than English.

Language course
Two pupils on a sofa

Upper secondary education abroad

Upper secondary education abroad may not provide general study competence in Norway.

In order to be admitted to university and university college education through the Norwegian Universities and Colleges Admission Service and to be eligible for support from Lånekassen for university and university college education outside of the Nordic region, you must have obtained general study competence before the education programme starts.

Different countries have different requirements

If you have attended High School in the USA, there are different requirements for upper secondary education than if you have completed A-levels in the UK. It is therefore important that you familiarise yourself with the requirements applicable to the upper secondary education you would like to undertake. The Norwegian Universities and Colleges Admission Service has an overview of the different countries and requirements.

In order to obtain general study competence in Norway and to be admitted to university and university college education in Norway, you need to meet the requirements for knowledge of both Norwegian and English. Lånekassen may disregard the requirement for Norwegian knowledge in connection with the assessment of general study competence if you will be studying abroad in countries outside of the Nordic region. 

You may still be required to demonstrate knowledge of Norwegian when we assess your links to Norway.

Related rules