If you have unauthorized absence from upper secondary school
If you are absent from upper secondary school without a valid reason, your student grant may be stopped. This also applies to other allowances, such as supplementary allowance from CSN or housing allowance from Försäkringskassan. Here you can read about how allowances from CSN will be affected if you have unauthorized absence.
What counts as unauthorized absence
Your school assesses and decides what is considered to be unauthorized absence, for example, if you repeatedly and without a valid reason
- are absent from lessons
- are late for lessons
- leave lessons too soon
- have reported absence that your school has not approved.
If you have repeated unauthorized absences of a total of four hours or more in a month, the school may report it to CSN.
In some cases, there may be special reasons for absence and the school may then choose not to report to CSN, for example, in the case of illness, bullying or other personal reasons. If you are absent from school because you are unwell, it is important you inform your school.
What happens if your school decides you have unauthorized absence
- The school will report to CSN that you have unauthorized absence. If you have unauthorized absence, you are not considered to be a full-time student and you are therefore not entitled to any grants from CSN.
- CSN will stop the payments of your grant(s) and investigate whether you have received too much money.
- If you have received too much money we will send you a copy of your school’s report in order for you to take part of it. After that you will receive a recovery order and an inpayment form so that you can repay the money to CSN.
- When your school assesses you are studying full-time again, the school will report that to CSN. The report will create a new task for CSN that we will take care of automatically.
- You will be entitled to your grant(s) again. In some cases, we can now deduct the amount you have received too much. Because of this it may take some time before your payments start up again. Read more under the heading “If you have to pay money back to CSN”.
- The June payment may be withdrawn. You will only receive it if you have studied full-time for at least nine months of the academic year.
Warning! When a student grant is stopped, allowances from other authorities may also be stopped, such as the family’s housing allowance, maintenance support and multi-child allowance from Försäkringskassan.
If you have to pay money back to CSN
If you have received money from CSN to which you were not entitled, you will have to repay that money.
We will send a recovery order and an inpayment form to you or your custodian. It is the person who have received the money who have to make the repayment to CSN.
In some instances, we will make deductions from your forthcoming payments during the academic year. This applies, for example, if you return to full-time studies before we have sent you the recovery order.
It is important to pay the money back in time
If you receive a recovery order, it is important you pay it. If you have difficulty paying, it is usually possible to pay it back in instalments. If so, contact CSN and we will investigate the best solution for you.
If you simply do not pay, despite being sent reminders, we will pass your case on to Kronofogden (Swedish Enforcement Authority). This may result in you being issued a record of non-payment.
If you have any objections
If you hold the view that your school's information about your unauthorized absence is incorrect, in the first instance, you must contact your school. It is your school, not CSN, that decides what is valid or unauthorized absence.
If you hold the view that CSN’s decision is incorrect, you can appeal the decision.
Updated: 2025-03-01