University and university college education abroad

Full degree or individual courses at a university or university college outside of the Nordic region

Veileder Helgrad utland

Preliminary statement of loans and grants

Some foreign universities require confirmation that you are entitled to support from Lånekassen to finance your studies.

Download a preliminary statement

Foreign citizenship?

There are stricter requirements to be able to get loans and grants from Lånekassen for studies abroad if you are not a Norwegian citizen.
Foreign nationals - studying abroad

Studying abroad

Lånekassen may provide support to those who will be completing a full degree or individual courses abroad. Some countries are eligible for an additional grant.

Application deadlines

You must have a study place before applying and you may apply no earlier than 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

All students receive basic support and travel support

Most students receive three different types of support for studying abroad. Basic support, travel support and an additional loan for tuition fees if payable.

All students can receive basic support, which is what most people call a student loan. Basic support is a loan, not a grant, but up to 40 per cent of this may be converted to a grant if you live away from your parents, complete your programme of education and have income and assets below the set limits.

If you pay tuition fees to your university, you may be eligible for support to cover the tuition fees, up to a maximum amount. The maximum amount depends on where you are studying and how much you have to pay.

We also provide support to subsidise the travel to the continent where you are studying.

If you are attending an online course or study, you can only apply for a loan to cover tuition fees. To receive the loan, the online study programme must be in another EEA country. Read more about additional loans for tuition fees at the page for online studies.

Some countries are eligible for an additional grant

If you are going to study in Brazil, India, Japan, China, South Africa or South Korea, you will receive an additional 4,277 NOK per month. You can receive this grant for up to ten months. 

You must apply for grants and loans once per year

You must apply for study support each year. If something happens during your studies, such as dropping out before your examination or wanting to change your programme of education, you will need to log in and let us know.

You need to submit documentation annually

We do not receive information about examinations passed or confirmation of how much you have paid in tuition fees from educational institutions abroad. Therefore, you will need to submit documentation to us each year.

You do not have to remember this yourself. We will let you know when and how to submit such documentation. You need to document your academic progress in order for parts of your loan to be converted to a grant and for us to process your application when you apply for the next academic year.

Debt and repayments

Lånekassen loans are interest-free and you do not need to start making repayments for as long as you remain a student and receive support from us. When you no longer receive support from Lånekassen for full-time studies, interest on the loan will start to accrue and you will need to start repayments around nine months later.

Go to the application for degree studies
Are you going to study health sciences?
Familiarise yourself with the rules for authorisation
Language course
You may receive support for a language course if the teaching is in another language than English
Extended grants for tuition fees
Some educational institutions abroad entitle you to an enhanced grant to pay for tuition fees

When you are studying individual courses

You may be eligible for support to study individual courses at a university outside of the Nordic region even if you are not an exchange student or have not been admitted for degree studies.

You will receive the same amount as full degree students, provided that the programme of education fulfils our requirements.

Requirements for the programme of education

  • You must be a full-time student. This means that you are studying subjects that correspond to at least 30 credits per semester.
  • All of the subjects must be taken from the course plan for an approved degree available at the same place of study.
  • All of the subjects must, as a minimum, be equivalent to bachelor level studies in Norway.
  • The studies must be based on campus and take place at the university. You cannot receive support for session-based or online studies.

This means that you cannot receive support for individual courses equivalent to the first year of a bachelor’s degree in the USA and non-Western countries

Go to the application for individual courses

When unexpected things happen

When something happens in your life or in your studies, it may impact what you are entitled to receive from Lånekassen, either now or later.
Female student smiling. Photo.

Converting loans to grants

Up to 40 per cent of basic support may be converted to a grant if you complete your studies and graduate with a degree.

You must submit your degree certificate for conversion

When you have completed your studies abroad, you will have to submit a copy of your degree certificate and the official examination transcript so that we can convert the loan to a grant.

If you have received support for tuition fees, you will also need to submit documentation from the educational institution confirming that the tuition fees have been paid.

Submit a copy of your degree certificate and official examination transcript before the deadline

The deadline for conversion of passed credits is four years back in time, calculated from the calendar year in which we receive your results. The deadline for conversion of a passed degree is eight years back in time, calculated from the start of the semester in which you passed the degree.

In order to qualify for conversion of a completed degree, the documentation must clearly show the degree or qualifications you have achieved. You have to let us know if you end your studies before completing a degree.

Students attending longer language courses

You may also receive basic support to complete a language course in countries outside Scandinavia. In order for 40 percent of the loan you received to take a language course to be turned into a grant, you must meet a few requirements.

You must complete the course and language exam, and begin studying in the same country within one year after completing the course.

Read more about loans and grants for language courses.

Read more about the general rules for conversion

Are you above the age of 30?

Then you can apply for up to
NOK 115,880
in additional loans per year

You can borrow up to NOK 115,880 extra per year if you are a full-time student, which corresponds to 60 credits per year. If you are taking fewer credits, you will be given an offer to borrow a smaller amount. You may borrow up to NOK 231,760 in total, and you may choose how many years you want to allocate the loan across. You apply for the loan on the same form as for ordinary loans and grants.

The loan may not be combined with additional loans for those with children.

Read more about additional loans

 

Are you going to study at NORGINSA?

You can receive
NOK 24,043
per year in additional grants

You may be eligible for additional grants if you are studying specially facilitated engineering or economics programmes of education in France or Germany.

The grant will be awarded in addition to ordinary support and you will be paid half of the amount awarded each semester.

Who is eligible for the grant?

Only NORGINSA, a five-year master’s degree programme in technology at the INSA school of engineering in Toulouse, France is approved for this grant. The study programme has been facilitated especially for Norwegian students.

The grant may be awarded for up to three years. If you are studying for a master’s degree programme that takes more than three years, you will receive the grant for the first three years during which you receive support for programmes of education from Lånekassen.

It is the Norwegian Directorate for Higher Education and Skills (HK-dir) that administers admissions for the programme and prepares the list of courses eligible for the grant.

How to get the grant

There is no separate application form for the grant, but we will assess whether you are eligible when we process your application for support.

Documentation you must enclose with the application

  • confirmation that you have general study competence
  • copy of the letter of admission from HK-dir

Other resources

Rules