Financial support for skilled workers in further education

We offer a loan that can subsequently be converted to a grant for selected skilled workers who also study. You will have received an offer via e-mail if you are eligible.

The loan is converted to a grant if you complete your education

An offer of a loan of up to NOK 50,000 for the coming academic year, autumn 2022 - spring 2023, will be extended to 62,000 people. The loan will be converted to a grant after you have completed your education.

Skilled workers may receive an extra loan from Lånekassen

If you are studying during the next academic year, you may receive an additional loan for skilled workers.

Why am I receiving this information?

If you have received an e-mail containing information about further education, you have been selected as one of 62,000 people who are invited to participate in a pilot project run by the  Directorate for higher education and skills. The project will examine whether finances and information about study options and career guidance influence skilled workers’ further education choices. You are therefore receiving an offer of a loan that can be converted to a grant.

Statistics Norway (SSB) has selected skilled workers based on education statistics. The outcomes of the project will be evaluated by researchers from FAFO and the Frisch Centre. You may be contacted by the researchers at a later date even if you do not start further education now. If you have any questions about the pilot project or its implementation, please refer to the Norwegian Institute for Adult Learning’s web pages.

What could I receive from Lånekassen?

This support scheme works in such a way that you can get a loan which may be converted to a grant if you pass your examination. The loan is up to NOK 25,000 per semester in the next academic year and will be in addition to ordinary support from Lånekassen. You can choose to apply for ordinary support as well as the additional support. You can do this using the application for support.

How much you can receive depends on how long your course takes, i.e. whether it spans the full academic year (August - June) or less and how high a study load you have. If you study part-time, the loan will be proportionately reduced in relation to your part-time percentage. This means that if, for example, your study percentage is 50 percent, you can receive a maximum of 50 percent of the support.

The loan cannot be converted to a parental grant if you have children.

If you are invited to participate in the project for the 2022-2023 academic year, you will be offered the loan for this academic year only and not any subsequent years. The loan is therefore available only for one year. Nevertheless, you can still apply for ordinary support after the end of the 2022-2023 academic year if you start courses that span multiple years.

What is required to receive the loan?

In order to be eligible for the loan, you need to be studying vocational upper secondary education, vocational college education, university or university college education in Norway during the 2022-2023 academic year. The study programme must be approved for support from Lånekassen and you must submit an application for support.

You must pass your examination to convert the loan to a grant. If you pass only parts of your studies, a smaller proportion of the loan will be converted. The deadline for passing your studies is up to four years into the future.

You must meet the general rules to be eligible for support from Lånekassen in order to receive both ordinary support and additional support under this pilot scheme. This means, among other things, that you cannot be more than one year behind with previous studies and that you cannot have defaulted on previous student loans.

General schemes for support
Terms and conditions for receiving support

Before starting further education

Lånekassen and the Directorate for Higher Education and Skills (Hk-dir) will issue information about the research project and the opportunity for further education to selected skilled workers in January 2022.

This is the deadline for applying for a school place at upper secondary school if you are planning to study at upper secondary education level.

This is the deadline for applying for a place to study at university and university college, as well as most vocational colleges. Please note that some vocational colleges operate with different application deadlines. Read more about application deadlines at utdanning.no.

Lånekassen will send an offer of the loan for skilled workers in a separate e-mail. Use the link included in the e-mail to apply for support. It may be advantageous to apply as soon as possible after you have received the offer to ensure that your application is processed as soon as possible.

The e-mail also includes a form that you need to complete and submit together with your application. You need to do this in order to receive the loan. You can apply for ordinary support using the same application form if desired.

When your application is approved, you will receive further information about disbursement and the status for conversion to grants when you log in to Dine sider.

During your studies

This is subject to your application having been finalised and that you meet the other terms and conditions for disbursement. The terms and conditions are that you are registered for examinations, have signed the support agreement and that your educational institution has confirmed that you have attended studies (or paid your semester fees, if applicable).

Support is disbursed on the 15th of each month, with the exception of the initial disbursement.

The same deadline applies to those who are applying only for additional support for skilled workers.

The same deadline applies to those who are applying only for additional support for skilled workers.

You will receive the final disbursement of the year on 15 May if you have applied only for the loan for skilled workers or you are studying at upper secondary education level.

You will receive the final disbursement of the year on15 June if you are studying at a vocational college, university or university college and you have received ordinary support in addition to support through the scheme for skilled workers.

After your studies

You do not need to submit any documentation to confirm that you have passed, we receive this information directly from your educational institution.

If you have passed your examinations, we will convert your loan to a grant. You will receive a decision letter from us when we have converted the loan and you will be notified via e-mail.

If you have taken out an ordinary loan as well or if not all of your loan was converted to a grant, you will receive a repayment plan with information about the repayment of your student loan.

If you have taken out an ordinary loan as well as the loan for skilled workers, a portion of the ordinary loan will be converted to a grant. Read more about terms and conditions for conversion.