Apprentices

For those under the age of 21 without university and college admissions certification or vocational qualifications.

Veileder borteboer lærling

Female apprentice cuts hair on customer. Photo.

Apprentice in Norway

You can apply for grants under the same rules as pupils attending upper secondary school, with a few exceptions.

Your apprentice salary may affect the housing grant

The housing grant will be reduced if your apprenticeship salary is above the income limit. The limit for 2024–2025 is NOK 17 186 gross monthly earnings. 

In order to be eligible for a housing grant, you also need to meet at least one of the following criteria:

  • The distance between parental home and your in-service training establishment is more than 40 kilometres, or
  • You spend more than three hours per day travelling between your parents’ home and your in-service training establishement, or
  • There are conditions that prevent you from living at home. These conditions must so severe that you will have problems completing your education if you have to live at home.

Apprentices are not entitled to grants for course materials

As an apprentice you no longer receive a grant for course materials, as you did when you attended upper secondary school.

Very few apprentices receive income-dependent grants

An income-dependent grant is a grant to pupils from low-income families. Among other things, the size of the grant you are entitled to depends on your apprenticeship salary. The limit to how high your apprenticeship salary can be and still receive an income-dependent grant is so low that very few apprentices qualify.

You receive payments for 11 months

Apprentices receive grants for 11 months per year, as opposed to pupils in ordinary upper secondary education who only receive grants for 10 months. You may receive a grant from August to June, but you must still remember to apply every year.

This page applies if you meet both criteria:

  • You are under the age of 21. That is, you will turn 20 years of age or less during the calendar year in which the academic year commences.
  • You do not yet have university and college admissions certification or vocational qualifications. This means that you have not successfully completed a university and college admission or vocational education programme.

Exceptions: Will you turn 21 to 24 years in 2024? Did you receive a grant for course materials or other loans and grants under the rules for ordinary upper secondary education during the 2023-2024 academic year? Check if this page applies to you because you are part of a transition scheme.

To the application

Do you have a very low apprenticeship salary?

Some very few
apprentice
receive an extra grant

If you have an apprenticeship salary of less than approximately NOK 6,458 per month and you come from a low-income family, you may be entitled to an income-dependent grant.

The grant is means-tested against the apprenticeship salary

In order to receive an income-dependent grant as an apprentice, your parents must have an income below the limits in the regulations, and your apprenticeship salary must be very low.

For every krone you earn for apprenticeship salary, 60 øre is deducted from the amount you may receive as income-dependent grant. This means that if you have an apprenticeship salary of more than approximately NOK 6,458 per month, you are not entitled to the grant.

Read more about income-dependent grants.

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.

Do your parents live far away?

Distance Grant
130 km NOK 276
350 km NOK 2,820
700 km NOK 5,319

If you live away from home and there is a long distance from where your parents live and your workplace, you may receive a travel grant. Above are som examples of the size of the travel grant you can receive for a full year.

The size of the travel grant depends on how many kilometres there are between where your parents live and your workplace.

Rates in 2024–2025

  • NOK 2.15 per kilometre for the first 300 kilometres
  • NOK 1.19 per kilometre for the next 301-1,500 kilometres
  • NOK 0.43 per kilometre for kilometres exceeding 1,500 kilometres

You are entitled to support for three return trips per year, but we deduct an excess of NOK 1,401 in total.

What should the travel grant cover?

The travel grant is a supplement for those with a long distance to travel. It is not intended to cover all of the actual travel expenses you have, or to cover the costs you have for travelling to and from your workplace.

How to apply

There is no separate application for travel grants. When you apply for an ordinary grant and check the box indicating that you are living away from home, we check if you are entitled to a travel grant.

Do you have children?

If you have children, you may receive more grant and loan.