Students who have a child qualify for a parental grant if they meet the conditions. University, university college and higher vocational college students can combine it with their own Nav parental benefit. Your partner’s benefit can reduce the grant. Plan study leave and benefit periods together.
What is foreldrestipend?
Foreldrestipend, or the parental grant, means that student support for a limited period becomes a grant. You do not automatically receive more money each month, but support covered by the scheme is not added to your student debt. Lånekassen provides student support, while Nav, the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration, assesses entitlement to benefits including parental benefit.
This guide covers students at universities, university colleges and higher vocational colleges. The rules were checked on 7 October 2026. School pupils and apprentices under 21 have separate rules, including rules on how Nav payments affect the amount.
You must first qualify for support from Lånekassen. Having a place on a course is not enough. See SamfunnPrep’s guide to ordinary student support and higher education.
Who can receive support when the child arrives?
When you have or adopt a child during your studies, you normally must:
- have qualified for loans and grants for the last four months before the birth or adoption
- live with the child
- be studying, be on leave from your studies or have a reserved study place
- meet the conditions concerning your partner’s support.
Study leave is an agreed break from your studies. If you quit completely, you cannot receive a parental grant under the ordinary student scheme. There is a separate rule for children arriving after you complete a degree, explained below.
Arrange study leave with your educational institution. Taking leave earlier than three weeks before your due date can affect the qualifying period. There are exceptions for illness, birth after the due date, a due date within two months of the semester starting, or a recommendation from the institution. Document why you need early leave. A premature birth also does not interrupt the qualifying period if you would otherwise have qualified for a birth on the due date.
These conditions appear in Forskrift om utdanningsstøtte § 36, the regulations on student support.
How long does the parental grant last?
For the birth of one child, the period can be up to 49 weeks: three weeks before the birth and 46 weeks afterwards. The three weeks before and the first six weeks after the birth are reserved for the mother. The father or co-mother can receive a parental grant for up to 40 weeks, starting in week 7 after the birth.
If both parents are students, you can divide the remaining period. You cannot receive a parental grant at the same time. State the periods for which each of you is applying.
For adoption, a parent can receive a parental grant for up to 46 weeks after the adoption. Multiple children in the same birth or adoption can give a longer period. Ask Lånekassen to clarify the period that applies to you.
The amount depends partly on how much you studied before taking leave. For higher education, Lånekassen describes the payment as the average for the last four months before the leave. Check your amount in Lånekassen’s information on birth and adoption.
How does parental benefit from Nav affect the grant?
Your own parental benefit does not, by itself, prevent a parental grant for the students covered by this guide. Your spouse’s or cohabiting partner’s parental benefit is assessed differently for the same period:
| Your partner’s use of parental benefit | Effect on your parental grant |
|---|---|
| Full benefit use | You cannot receive a parental grant for the overlapping period. |
| Partial benefit use of 50 to 99 per cent | You can receive half the parental grant. |
| Partial benefit use below 50 per cent | You can receive the full parental grant if the other conditions are met. |
Gradert uttak, or partial benefit use, means that your partner takes parental benefit on a part-time basis. The percentages refer to the proportion of the selected rate. They do not refer to the choice between 80 and 100 per cent income coverage at Nav. Full benefit use with 80 per cent income coverage therefore prevents a parental grant for the same period. Partial benefit use of 60 per cent gives half the parental grant if the other conditions are met.
Make a calendar showing your periods and your partner’s periods before applying. The rules on your partner’s benefit use follow § 36 of the regulations.
Does a student loan qualify you for parental benefit?
No. Loans and grants from Lånekassen do not count towards qualifying for parental benefit. Employment income and certain Nav benefits can count. You normally need qualifying income or benefits for at least six of the last ten months before parental benefit begins. Nav also has minimum-income and National Insurance membership requirements.
If you do not qualify for parental benefit, a lump-sum grant may be an option under its own conditions. You cannot personally receive both a lump-sum grant and parental benefit for the same child. See Nav’s conditions for parental benefit and the guide to applying for a lump-sum grant.
How do you apply for a parental grant?
Normally, apply for ordinary loans and grants first, including when you will take study leave. Then submit a separate parental-grant application after the child is born or you have taken over care through adoption.
- Download the form from Lånekassen’s application page.
- Complete and sign the form. State the periods you are planning.
- Attach documentation from your institution showing the study-leave period, and your partner’s Nav decision if your partner will receive parental benefit.
- Log in to Dine sider, your personal pages, choose Send dokumentasjon, meaning “send documentation”, then upload and submit the application.
If your partner’s decision is not ready, still state the planned start date and send the decision later. A caseworker handles the application, so allow for a waiting period.
Lånekassen must normally have received your application no later than twelve months after the birth or the takeover of care. This is a different deadline from Nav’s.
If the period spans two academic years, you must also apply for ordinary loans and grants for the second year. That application opens in May. Your parental-grant application does not replace it.
What if you have a child after completing a degree?
You may receive a parental grant if you have or adopt a child within seven months of completing a degree and meet the other conditions. You must have qualified for student support for the last four months before your education ended.
Lånekassen treats a degree completed in the spring semester as completed on 15 June, and a degree completed in the autumn semester as completed on 15 January. Use these dates when checking the seven-month limit.
This scheme covers qualifying degrees, including higher vocational college degrees. The support consists of the basic loan and child grant paid as a parental grant. Your partner’s support and the other relevant conditions still apply. For this scheme, submit the parental-grant application without first applying for ordinary loans and grants. See § 37 of the regulations.
What about the child grant, additional loans and returning to study?
Barnestipend, or the child grant, is a separate scheme. In the 2026–2027 academic year, you can receive up to NOK 2,340 a month with one child. The child must have been born in 2011 or later, and must live with you at least 40 per cent of the time. Income and assets can reduce the grant, and your partner’s income may also matter.
Lånekassen assesses the child grant when you apply for ordinary support. You must ask for an additional loan, called tilleggslån. It is extra debt and is not converted into a parental grant. Tuition-fee loans for fully online courses at an institution in another European Economic Area (EØS in Norwegian) country are not converted either. See the schemes for students with children.
Your own parental benefit can affect means-tested grants within ordinary student support, even though it can be combined with a parental grant. Means testing means that support is assessed against income and assets.
If your study leave lasts longer than the parental-grant period, you are not entitled to ordinary loans and grants for the remaining leave. Clarify when you will resume studying and how to cover expenses until then. You can find more practical resources in SamfunnPrep’s tools overview.
