Just under 11,000 people registered in Norway as studying under the EEA registration scheme or were granted an education permit for those from outside the EEA in 2022.

Several factors, such as a high quality of life and buzzing student hubs in cities like Bergen, make Norway a dream destination for studying. 

However most appealing of all is free tuition at public universities. Although in the new year, the rules changed, and international students from outside the EEA and Switzerland who are enrolling in courses that begin in the autumn of 2023 will need to pay tuition fees.

Despite the change first being proposed in October 2022, prospective students have been left in the dark over how much they will be required to pay to study in Norway, beyond a few government estimates. 

The change to the rules is due to government cutbacks, meaning Norwegian public universities will need to charge fees to cover the cost of courses. 

Not all students from outside the EEA will be required to pay

While the general rule is that students from outside the EEA will have to pay tuition, there are several exceptions. 

Exchange students and those from the EU/EEA and Switzerland will receive free tuition in Norway. Therefore if you want to conduct some of your studies in Norway, one way around the fees could be doing an exchange programme. 

Another caveat is that if you were already enrolled and studying at a Norwegian university before 2023, you would not need to pay fees to finish your studies. 

This means that non-EEA nationals already at Norwegian universities can finish their current courses without paying fees. 

Furthermore, many non-students holding residence in Norway may be able to study in Norway for free. Permanent residence holders, UK nationals who claimed residence under the withdrawal agreement (as they were living in Norway before 2021), those with a Norwegian partner or spouse, those who have held a work permit for two years and been employed continuously, and those with a family immigration permit where the reference person (the person you are moving to be with) isn’t a student can still study for free in Norway even if they are from outside the EEA.

READ MORE: Which foreign students in Norway are required to pay tuition?

Students still left in the dark over fees

News on how much will be charged in fees has also been hard to come by for prospective students. So far, the University of Stavanger (UiS) is one of the only universities to announce the fees it will charge. 

Students from countries outside the EU, EEA and Switzerland who will be studying in the autumn must prepare to pay the following for one year of study at UiS:

• Master’s degrees in technology, natural sciences and performing arts: 150,000 kroner
• Master’s degrees at a business school, social science subjects, humanities subjects and all health subjects: 125,000 kroner
• Bachelor and year studies: 80,000 kroner 

It isn’t exactly clear when other universities will announce what they will charge. However, they will need to do so before students decide whether they want to progress their application any further. This will happen at some point in February for most students. 

 Additionally, several universities may announce what international students will be charged together because they are working together to formulate a pricing model. 

The Arctic University of Norway is collaborating with the University of Oslo, the University of Bergen and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) to calculate a model for tuition fees. 

The University of Oslo has published a rough guideline on what it will charge in tuition and writes on its website that it will share more information on fees at the end of March. 

• The tuition fees for study programmes at bachelor’s level will be within the range of 130,000 kroner to 160,000 kroner per year. This includes the five-year master’s degree programmes in Law, Economic Theory and Econometrics and Teacher Education.
• The tuition fee for one-and-a-half-year and two-year master’s degree programmes will be within the range of 180,000 kroner to 260,000 kroner per year. This includes the one-year programme in Educational Theory and Practice and the professional programme in Theology.
• The tuition fee for the professional programmes in Clinical Nutrition, Dentistry, Medicine, Pharmacy and Psychology will be within the range of 380,000 kroner to 500,000 kroner per year.