The Norwegian Education Mirror 2022

In 2021, the county municipalities spent NOK 31.3 billion on upper secondary school education in schools, and over NOK 4.3 billion on vocational training in the workplace (Statistics Norway 2022c). In addition, the government spent NOK 2.7 billion on subsidies for upper secondary independent schools (The Norwegian Directorate for Education and Training 2022b). The county municipalities spent nearly NOK 797 million on subsidies specially adapted for adults, an increase of 12 per cent from 2019 (Statistics Norway 2022c).

On average, the county municipalities spent NOK 181,600 per pupil in upper secondary school education (Statistics Norway 2022c). This sum includes costs for national subsidies, special education support and educational and psychological counselling services A pupil in upper secondary school education costs NOK 46,300 more than a pupil in primary and lower secondary school.

An education programme costs an average of NOK 107,400 per pupil, excluding costs for national subsidies, special education support and educational and psychological counselling services. There are large variations between the education programmes, and a pupil in vocational training costs an average of NOK 26,100 more per year than a pupil on a General Studies course. This is mainly due to smaller class sizes and more expensive study materials. The most expensive education programme, Agriculture, Fishing and Forestry, costs around NOK 166,300 per pupil. Specialisation in General, which costs NOK 72,500 per pupil, is traditionally the cheapest program.