Student grants and loans for studies outside Sweden
You may be entitled to student grants and loans when studying abroad. You can apply for student grants and loans for courses at post-secondary level. You can also apply for student finance for education at upper secondary level (e.g. language courses), but only from the autumn semester in the year in which you turn 20.
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You can choose to apply for the grant portion only. You must pay back the loan. In 2024, the interest rate on the loan is 1,23 per cent.
It is normally the case that only Swedish citizens can receive student finance in order to study outside Sweden. However, if you can be equated with a Swedish citizen under EU law, you may be entitled to Swedish student finance for studies outside Sweden.
Size of grants and loans you can receive
The size of the grants and student loans you can receive depends e.g. on
- your rate of study (full-time or part-time)
- the number of weeks you are studying for
- the size of your income.
As the cost of living and accommodation may be higher abroad, you can apply for an extra loan known as an additional loan for studies abroad.
| 1 week, SEK | 4 weeks, SEK | 20 weeks, SEK | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grant | 1 023 | 4 092 | 20 460 |
| Student loan | 2 352 | 9 408 | 47 040 |
| Additional loan for studies abroad | 735 | 2 940 | 14 700 |
| Total | 4 110 | 16 440 | 82 200 |
Other grants and loans that you can apply for
When studying abroad, there are often additional costs, such as for travel, insurance and tuition fees. You can apply for an additional loan for these costs. If you have custody of children under the age of 18, you can also apply for extra child allowance.
If you are studying within the EU/EEA or Switzerland, you can also apply for supplementary loans in some cases. You may be entitled to this loan from the year you turn 25 and if you have worked in the past and had a certain minimum income.
If your income exceeds the income limit
You may receive income up to a certain amount without your student grants and loans being affected. The income limit is calculated per calendar half-year, January-June or July-December. If your income exceeds the income limit, you are not entitled to the same level of grants and loans.
Requirements and conditions
Various requirements and conditions must be satisfied in order for you to be entitled to student grants and loans.
- The education you will be attending must grant the entitlement to student finance.
- It must be possible to take examinations for the courses or the education must lead to a degree.
- You must be admitted to your course without reservations or conditions.
- You must have been resident in Sweden for at least two consecutive years in the last five years. There are certain exceptions to this rule, however.
- For studies outside the EU/EEA and Switzerland, you have to be studying full-time for at least 13 weeks. When studying within the EU/EEA or Switzerland, you have to be studying for at least 3 weeks.
- For studies within the EU/EEA and Switzerland, you can receive student funding for both on-site and online-studies. For studies outside the EU/EEA and Switzerland you must study on-site in order to receive student funding. You can only receive student funding for online-studies outside the EU/EEA and Switzerland if there is a particular cause to why you cannot study on-site. A particular cause could be that you due to illness or functional disability are not able to study on campus.
- You must be below the age of 60. The entitlement to borrow decreases from the year you turn 51.
- You may not receive certain other benefits at the same time as receiving student grants and loans, such as activity support, sickness benefit and introduction benefit.
- You can only receive student grants and loans for a limited amount of time. The length of time depends on the education level for which you are studying:
- University college, university or some other post-secondary education: a maximum of 240 weeks
- Upper secondary level: a maximum of 80 or 120 weeks, depending on your previous education
- If you have previously studied with student grants and loans or an education entry grant, you must have satisfied the requirements as regards credits in order to receive new student grants and loans. The requirements regarding credits vary depending on which course you are studying.
- If you have unpaid annual fees or demands for more than one period, you may not receive student grants and loan. Contact CSN for more information.
How does Brexit affect my student finance?
The right to Swedish student finance for foreign citizens
If you are a foreign citizen, you also need to satisfy the conditions in order to be entitled to Swedish student finance.
Read more about the conditions for foreign citizens
Application, study assurance and payment
This is what you will need to do:
- Prepare your application. Find out whether the course grants the entitlement to student aid, ascertain which appendices you need to enclose and check with the school how any tuition fees are to be paid.
- Submit an application in Mina sidor (My Pages). Log in with e-ID, which is the fastest method.
- When you receive your decision from CSN, make sure everything is correct. If anything is wrong, contact CSN.
- If you have not previously received student finance or if more than a year has passed since you last received such finance, you should register your bank account details with Swedbank’s account register. We can then can pay the money out directly to your account. Your account can be in any Swedish bank. We cannot normally pay out the funds to a foreign account.
- Submit a study assurance to CSN in which you certify that you are going to be studying as stated in the decision. You can do this at the earliest four weeks before the start of the semester. You can normally submit your study assurance in Mina sidor or in CSN’s app.
You can receive payment of an additional loan for travel, insurance and tuition fees at the earliest three weeks before the start of the semester. CSN will normally only pay out other grants and loans at the start of the semester. You will then receive the payment on around the 25th of the month, in advance for each month you are studying. You can see your payments in Mina sidor.
Provide notification if you become ill or if anything changes
If anything happens or changes during your period of study, it is important for you to provide notification of the change so that you receive the right amount. Changes might include you e.g.
- interrupting your studies
- studying for fewer credits than you had planned
- selling a property and receiving income above the free amount.
If you are a foreign citizen, it is also important for you to notify CSN in the event of any changes to your residence permit, or in the event you or a person you are related to should stop working or have a reduction in working hours.
You can submit a change notification in Mina sidor (My Pages) or contact us in some other way. If you fail to report changes and this results in you being paid more than you are entitled to, you will have to pay the additional funds back.
If you or your child becomes ill
It is also important to notify CSN if you become ill or if you need to be at home to care for a sick child. In this situation, you may keep your student grants and loans without these weeks being counted as having been used, and requirement regarding awarded credits is also reduced. You can report an illness to CSN by submitting the form “Notification of illness during studies abroad” (no. 5521W).
Repaying the student loan
When it is time to start making loan repayments, you will receive a payment plan from CSN. If this is the first time you have taken out a student loan, you will start repaying the loan at the earliest six months after receiving the student aid. If you have studied before and start studying again, you will not receive any such grace period.
The amount you have to pay each year depends e.g. on
- how much you have borrowed
- the length of time you are going to be repaying your loan
- the interest rate.
You can take a maximum of 25 years to repay your loan, and it must be fully repaid by the time you turn 64. You will usually pay a little less at the beginning and more at the end. Of course, you can repay the loan faster if you want.
If you are experiencing difficulty with your repayments, for example because your income decreases, you can apply to pay back less for a certain period of time. CSN will then assess your application and determine whether you are entitled to pay less.
Remember to make sure that CSN always has your correct address details. This is a requirement.
If you have received a demand
If you have received money from CSN that you were not entitled to, you have to pay it back. In this case, you will receive a demand.
Appealing against a decision by CSN
If you believe that CSN has reached an incorrect decision, you can appeal against it. CSN must be in receipt of your appeal within three weeks from the date on which you were notified the decision.
Updated: 2024-11-13
