Financial security to Ukrainian, Russian, and Belarusian students in Norway

The Norwegian Government has decided upon a financial scheme to help Ukrainian, Russian, and Belarusian students in a difficult situation. Students who are struggling financially due to the war will now receive funding to cover their subsistence costs.

The Norwegian Government is establishing a grant scheme for the spring semester 2022. All students who qualify for the grant will receive NOK 11 500 per month from March to August. PhD students will receive up to NOK 21 000.

The reason for this is that some Ukrainian, Russian, and Belarusian students in Norway are having financial problems as a result of the war. This may be because their parents or other sources of funding can no longer continue to help them, or because they have lost access to their funds as a result of economic sanctions against Russia.

Eligible applicants:

  • Students and PhD students at USN from Ukraine, Russia and Belarus.
  • Self-funded students who have lost access to their funding due to the war.
  • The scheme excludes Ukrainian, Russian, or Belarusian citizens who have ordinary rights to a student loan through Lånekassen.

How to apply:

  • Students will need to fill in and submit the application form.
  • Required documentation needs to be attached to the application, in order to have the application processed.
  • The declaration of honor must be signed, scanned and attached to the online application form, in order to have the application processed.
  • Information given in the form must be verifyed, as far as possible, providing required necessary documentation.
  • Please note that applicants for such funding will be required to substantiate and document their need for such funds, and that decisions to grant support to individual students will be based on a discretionary assessment of the extent to which such needs are properly substantiated and documented.

Students who believe that they are eligible must apply for the scholarship via their educational institution. The scheme will be in effect from 1 March to August 2022.

Applications will be processed quickly. Please count on a processing time of 3 working days to effectuate the payment, once the application is submitted. Payments will be effectuated through bank transfers or through issuing "kronekort" - cash cards - to the receiver at the service front desk on campus.

Please log in here to enter the online application

Facts:

  • Figures from the Norwegian Directorate for Higher Education and Skills for the spring of 2022 show that there are 150 Ukrainian, 400 Russian, and about 50 Belarusian students in Norway. There is reason to believe that several students are already settled in Norway, or have a permanent residence permit, and have ordinary financial rights through Lånekassen.
     
  • It is unclear how many will need financial aid this spring, and the government estimates that this number is between 50 and 300 students in total.
     
  • To be granted a residence permit for studies in Norway, the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration requires that students transfer NOK 126 357 in funds to a Norwegian bank account to cover one academic year or have a corresponding financial guarantee (or a lower amount for studies lasting one semester). It is therefore likely that many students will have funds to sustain them in Norway until June. There may nonetheless be cases where students have funds deposited in a bank account in their home country to which they currently do not have access.