When you will start to make loan repayments

You need to start making repayments on your student loan when you no longer receive support for full-time education from Lånekassen.

What happens when you have finished studying?

When you stop receiving money for full time studies, you need to start making loan repayments, whether you have finished your studies or not. There is a payment-free period of around seven months after your last support period.

We start charging interest to your loan from the day after your support period ends. If, as an example, you have received support up to and including 15 June, we will start charging interest on the loan from and including 16 June. The support period can be found in your decision letter for support which is available in the mailbox on Dine sider.

Everyone generally has a variable rate of interest on their loan and the variable rate of interest is the same for everyone. You can apply for a fixed rate of interest if you want.

Read more about interest on student loans.

If you want to start making repayments on your student loan immediately, you can request a repayment plan.

Approximately five months after you have finished studying

A repayment plan will be issued automatically by us approximately five months after you stopped receiving support from Lånekassen.

The repayment plan includes detailed information about when you need to start making repayments, the repayment term for your student loan and how much you need to pay each month.

If you want to repay your loan more quickly than stated in the repayment plan, you can change the plan to make a larger repayment each month.

Approximately seven months after you have finished studying

This is for the first loan repayment and you will receive an invoice every month going forward.

Make sure that you have consented to receiving electronic invoices or direct debits from us in order to avoid paper invoices. If you receive invoices by post, you need to pay an invoice fee of NOK 18 per invoice.

The due date on the invoices is generally the 15th of each month, but you can change the due date to the 5th or 25th of the month if desired.

You can defer invoices from Lånekassen up to a maximum of 36 times, corresponding to three years, during your repayment term. If you are unable to pay your invoice by the due date, you should apply to have your invoice deferred. Lånekassen’s reminder fees are higher than most other places.

You must log in if you wish to change the due date or apply for a repayment deferral.

Approximately one year after you have finished studying

Loans are converted to grants if you have lived away from home, completed your education and had income and assets below the limits. For most people, the conversion for the final semester you received a loan for takes place during the summer of the year after the final loan disbursement was made. The reason for this is that we have to wait for information about your annual income from the Norwegian Tax Administration.

Read more about how conversion works

 

Payment-free period

It takes around seven months from when you finish studying until you need to pay the first invoice.

This is a payment-free period after you stop receiving support from us. It takes around six months from the final support disbursement until you receive your first invoice.

This is what happens when you have finished studying

You must start making student loan repayments when you have completed your education, if you transition to studying without support or if you change from full-time to part-time education.

Around five months after your last period of support from Lånekassen, you will receive a repayment plan with information about your repayments. Around two months after that you will receive your first invoice.

Have you only applied for a loan that can be converted to a grant?

When you apply for “only loan that can be converted to a grant” for an education programme other than upper secondary education, you will receive a loan that can subsequently be converted to a grant. If your loan has not yet been converted to a grant and you stop receiving support from us, this loan will be included in the debt when we issue your repayment plan. Conversion of loans to grants does not take place until the year after you completed your education, as we must wait for information about your annual income from the Norwegian Tax Administration.

While you are waiting for your loan to be converted to a grant, you can apply for repayment deferral until the conversion takes place. We will erase the interest accrued on the amount that is converted to a grant and will adjust your repayment plan.

Unable to make loan repayments at the moment?

If you are unable to make loan repayments, you can apply for repayment deferral. Everyone can defer payments up to 36 times, corresponding to three years, during the repayment term.

If you are still in education, you may also be entitled to an interest exemption on your loan. This also applies if you find yourself in another situation that entitles you to an interest exemption, for example if you are unemployed or sick.