Warn: – Do not earn too much

If you earn too much as a student, you risk keeping just one in four crowns you earn.

– Students need to be a little careful. If you are approaching the limit, you may consider concentrating entirely on your studies or doing other things, says Hallgeir Kvadsheim, an MSc in Economics, who leads the Money Workshop.

If you as a student earn more than 188,509 kroner in 2020, you will only have 25 percent of the money that exceeds this amount.

– When you win more than 188,509 crowns, it is Lånekassen’s support that is cut first. And here is the scholarship that disappears first, says Kvadsheim.

– Too little

Kvadsheim explains that Lånekassen’s scholarship support is reduced each month by five percent of earnings that exceed the tax-free amount.

– In addition to this, of course, you must pay taxes, also for the part of the income that led to the cut of the scholarship.

Example:

If you earn NOK 200,000 this year and have received support for ten months, more than NOK 5,700 of your scholarship will be converted into a loan (200,000 – 188,509) x 5% x 10 months.

If you earn NOK 200,000, the tax rate is 22.2% (8.2% + 22% – minimum deduction). This means that a new NOK 2,551 returns to the state: (200,000 – 188,509) x 22.2%.

In total, he loses more than 8,250 crowns out of the additional 11,491 he gains on top of the 188,509.

– So you only have 25 crowns left out of every hundred crowns you earn, which of course is too little. I don’t think everyone realizes this, says Kvadsheim.

– Punished for working

Kvadsheim recommends that students working alongside their studies keep track of how much they have earned.

– This is something you can check at the end of the year. If it’s 188,509, which is the limit for a full scholarship, you may want to consider doing something else. The trick is to work a little, but not too much, says Kvadsheim.

Jens Kristian Øvstebø (25) studies political science at the University of Oslo. He has studied for four years and has worked alongside his studies all the way.

– Therefore, I have exceeded the income amount limit and have not qualified for a scholarship, says Øvstebø.

Respond that students are “punished” for working.

– One thing is that wealth means that you get a smaller scholarship, because it can come from parents or the like. Those with wealthy parents tend to have more financial difficulties. But income is something else entirely: you work for this yourself, and then it’s perceived as more unfair that this means you don’t get a scholarship, Øvstebø believes.

– Unfortunate scheme

Øvstebø thinks, in principle, that it is good that people with worse financial conditions receive more help from Lånekassen, but thinks that one should consider income less.

Warn young people looking for housing

– Such income limit does not contribute to students wanting to work. Students who work in parallel to their studies contribute to greater value creation and pay more taxes, but at the same time are “punished” by receiving fewer scholarships. I think this will be the wrong way to calculate scholarships, says Øvstebø.

Idun Kløvstad, head of the Parliament for Social Welfare for students in Oslo and Akershus, is not happy with the plan.

– Students are expected to have a job alongside their studies. We believe that the current scheme is very unfortunate when those who choose to work alongside their studies are penalized if they earn more than the current income limit, says Kløvstad.

Will remove the edge

Kløvstad believes that the consequences of the plan may be that society loses important manpower because students are reluctant to work more than they would like and could have.

– There is also the danger that students will not get as much work experience as they could have during their studies if the limit did not exist, and we know that work skills are important to get a job later, says Kløvstad.

The Welfare Parliament wants to completely remove the income limit.

– So that those who have a surplus to work a lot with their studies are not punished for it. We hope that the parties will be on the side of the students and in favor of removing the income cap in the 2021 elections, says Kløvstad.

– Students must be able to be, above all, students

The Norwegian student organization does not see the income limit as a major issue. Leader Andreas Trohjell notes that the vast majority of students do not have income on that scale.

– We believe that students should be allowed first of all to be students and study. It is not certain that everyone who earns 188,500 kronor needs student support, says Trohjell, continuing:

– We hope that the current scheme ensures that students really spend their time studying. Lånekassen scholarships and loans will, in principle, be for those in need.

– Do you want any changes to the current system?

– No, but we want to increase student support so that more students can make a living, says Trohjell.

Will not remove the edge

Research and Higher Education Minister Henrik Asheim (H) says Lånekassen’s goal is to make it possible for everyone to get an education, regardless of where they come from or how much parents earn.

– Like many other support schemes in society, this is also tested as needed. This year, you can earn 188,509 kronor before scholarship participation starts to drop. But no one gets less money from Lånekassen if they work hard, it just doesn’t turn as much into scholarships after they finish their studies, Asheim notes.

Due to the crown crisis, in recent months there have been exceptions to the income ceiling for students contributing to the health and care sector in Norway and abroad, police students working in the police or reporting for emergency work and other students who are ordained for emergency work through the National Guard or Civil Defense.

– We have done it simply because the crisis in the crown has put pressure on the sector and increased the need for additional manpower. So we wanted to make sure that students who contribute to crisis work don’t lose out financially, Asheim says.

– Is it relevant to change the current scheme?

– I would like to have a discussion on whether the level of the income ceiling is correct, but I will not agree to eliminate it completely. This will mean that we subsidize people who in no way need a state scholarship in order to study. We have prioritized increasing student support each year, introducing 11 months of student support and historically building many student housing, says Asheim.