Folk high school in Norway

You may borrow up to NOK 125,370

If you attend a folk high school, you no longer receive a grant as you perhaps received for upper secondary education, but you receive a loan.

You may receive basic support of up to NOK 125,370 for the whole year.

40 per cent of the loan can be converted to a grant.
You do not receive a loan for tuition fees.

Loans and grants for attending folk high school

If you are a pupil at a folk high school, you may receive basic support for up to ten months.

What is basic support?

All students can receive basic support, and this is what most people call a student loan.
You do not receive an extra loan to cover expenses for the course you are taking or for travel.

The loan is free of interest for as long as you are receiving loans for full-time education

In order for the loan to be free of interest and instalments, you must be taking a student loan for full-time education. When you no longer receive a student loan or go from full- to part-time studies, interest will accrue on the loan and you must start repayments.

Application deadlines

You must have a study place before applying, and you may apply no earlier then mid-May. The final deadline for applying is

15 November for the entire year or just the autumn semester
15 March for the spring semester

Assessment time

Most applications are processed within 24 hours, but more complex cases can take a long time to process. Make sure you apply as early as possible, so that the money is in your account when the semester starts.

To the application

Part-time or shorter academic year?

You receive a

smaller loan

if you study part-time.

When do I receive the funds?

You receive larger

disbursements in

August and January.

You take out a loan when you attend a folk high school

You do not receive a grant in the same way as in upper secondary education, but up to 40 per cent of the loan may subsequently be converted to a grant.

When you attend a folk high school, you receive loans and grants under the same rules that apply for university and university college education. There are some differences from receiving grants for upper secondary education that are important to be aware of.

You must repay the loan when you have completed your education

When you no longer receive loans for full-time education, you are sent a repayment plan and must start to pay instalments. The first instalment is due approximately seven months after the final disbursement from Lånekassen.

The loan is interest-free only for as long as you are receiving loans or grants for full-time education.

40 per cent of the basic support can be converted to a grant

If you complete the school year and have income and assets below the limits, 40 per cent of the loan is converted to a grant. This means that you are not required to repay it. You will receive a separate decision from us when the loan is converted.

If you live at home with your parents, you are not qualified for a grant

Only those living away from home may have loans converted to grants. If you are living in a dormitory, you are considered to be living away from home.

Conversion only takes place the year after you have completed your education

The loan is not converted to a grant until we have checked your income and assets. We only do this when your tax assessment is ready for the year or years in which you received the loan from us.

This means that if you completed a year at a folk high school in the spring of 2023, your loan is not converted to a grant before the spring/summer of 2024.

Extra grants and loans

If you have children, become ill or have reduced functional ability, you may receive extra grants and/or loans from Lånekassen.

What you may receive depends on your situation.

Related rules