The case summed up Students in non-central municipalities can have NOK 25,000 of their student loan written off annually from January 2026, if the proposal receives a majority in the Storting. The scheme applies to all municipalities in Vesterålen, apart from Sortland. The mayor of Sortland believes the scheme could lead to competition between municipalities for the students when they have completed their education. Leaders in Unge Høgre believe the proposal is unfair for students in expensive municipalities with a lot of student loans. Marit Knutsdatter Strand (Sp), deputy leader of the education and research committee, believes that Sortland will nevertheless be strengthened when more people get better finances and because there will be a stronger educational and research environment in Northern Norway. The summary is made by an AI service from OpenAI. The content is quality assured by news’s journalists before publication. On Wednesday it became clear that the government wants to write off part of the student debt for students if they move to district municipalities. Meanwhile, another student Sindre Pettersen (23) from Innlandet hopes the scheme will work: – Now there is yet another reason to move back home, he says. But not everyone agrees. Students Sindre Stenseth Pettersen (23) from Trysil and Andrea Fiske (19) from Surnadal both think it is a good idea to write down the debt of students who move to district municipalities. Photo: Reidar Gregersen / news In Vesterålen, the scheme applies to all municipalities except one, Sortland. – I think it’s quite crazy, says student Oddbjørg Merete Høwe (23), who comes from there. The mayor of the municipality believes that the arrangement could mean that neighboring municipalities have to compete for the students. Will it be expensive to move home Høwe is a newly qualified nurse. She comes from Sortland and can basically imagine moving home. – It would have been a bit strange to move to another municipality. But now I would probably live somewhere else if I moved north, she says. Because with the government’s new scheme, she will lose a lot of money on moving home. Nursing student Oddbjørg Høwe (23) believes that growing municipalities, such as Sortland, should be seen as something positive. – It can benefit all the neighboring municipalities. Photo: Privat Those who live in the non-central municipalities can have NOK 25,000 of their student loan written off annually from January 2026, if the government gets a majority in the Storting for the matter. But as the only municipality in the region, Sortland is the only one that fell outside the scheme. Høwe basically thinks it’s a good idea to get more people to move home or settle in Northern Norway. About 10,000 people live in Sortland. The neighboring municipality of Hadsel has a population of just over 8,000. The difference of 2,000 people is enough for Sortland not to fall under the scheme. Photo: Synnøve Sundby Fallmyr – But of course one should invest in that first, I don’t think the centrality index should control how the scheme should work, she says. The 23-year-old believes it is wrong to punish growing municipalities, such as Sortland. – If the point is to achieve growth in Nordland, I don’t think there should be any difference if you are just a little too big. It is still very little. Mayor: – Completely wrong in the head Mayor in Sortland Grete Ellingsen (H) believes that this is basically an exciting scheme for the municipalities in Northern Norway. – But it’s completely mind-boggling that Sortland has been relegated. Ellingsen does not understand why it should be like this. Sortland is the largest municipality in Vesterålen, but not by a large margin. Since Sortland is the municipal center in Vesterålen, it is the hub for, among other things, buses. Mayor Grete Ellingsen does not think it is in the best interests of the region for them to fall outside the scheme. Photo: Sofie Retterstøl Olaisen / news – Right behind comes Hadsel, which has both a hospital and an airport. Therefore, an artificial distinction has been drawn between ensuring that the region’s residents receive good services, says the mayor. – Are you afraid that this will lead to people busing in neighboring municipalities instead? – The problem is that people are moving out of the region. We need people to move to this region. Then it is important that we have the same framework. Sortland is too central in division But why does Sortland end up outside the good company? Marit Knutsdatter Strand (Sp), deputy leader of the education and research committee, says that they have used Statistics Norway’s classification for municipalities where individual municipalities are singled out as the most remote and least populated. This is how she believes they have found the municipalities most in need of relocation, among other things for the teaching profession. Here you can search for your municipality and see if the measure can apply to you: Simply explained, Statistics Norway divides Norwegian municipalities into categories from 1-6, where categories 5 and 6 are the least central. It is these two categories that are covered by the scheme. Unlike the surrounding municipalities, Sortland is in category 4, and in other words is not remote enough. Marit Knutsdatter Strand (Sp), deputy leader of the education and research committee, says that, among other things, they have improved county roads near Sortland and are working to get a new police station in place. Photo: Ragne B. Lysaker, Center Party Sortland scores one point away from category 5, which ends at 669. Strand is adamant that, in this context, Sortland has such a large center that it cannot be part of this scheme. – But at the same time they are involved in other schemes such as lower daycare prices, general tax and fee policy where commuters benefit, among other things, says the politician. The deputy head of the education and research committee points out that, among other things, they have ensured that the coast guard base will be built in Sortland. Even if they are not allowed to take part in the scheme with cancellation of student debt. Photo: Beth Mørch Pettersen / news She still believes that Sortland will gain more expertise and be strengthened as a whole, when more people get better financial conditions linked to loans after education. – It is also important for Sortland that there is a strong educational and research environment in Northern Norway, and this contributes to that if the threshold for taking up an education is lowered, Strand believes. This is what the Minister for Local Government and Modernization says: Minister for Local Government and Modernization Erling Sande (Sp) wrote this in an e-mail to news. The Center Party and the Labor Party want people to be able to live, live, create activity and values throughout Norway. And therefore we propose measures that will contribute to that. I think debt relief is a historic investment. It is targeted at the district municipalities. This is an area of the country that may not have the same offer as you can find in the cities and where the distances can be great. But often great value is created in the business world – and both municipalities and the business world have a great need for recruitment. Debt relief is therefore important both for those who get parts of their student debt written off, but also for business and the municipal sector. Unfair in several places Leader of Unge Høgre, Ola Svenneby, believes that the proposal is madness. He believes that the biggest living standards challenges for those in the establishment phase today are in the biggest cities and points to the housing crisis in Oslo and increased rental prices in most cities and towns. Leader of Unge Høgre, Ola Svenneby, says he does not see anything in selecting one group and designing a system to satisfy his own voters. Photo: Helle Westrum / news He therefore thinks it will be unfair for quite a few students from municipalities who do not come under the scheme, but still live in expensive municipalities with a lot of student loans. – It is easy to only talk about Oslo, but in Bodø, Tromsø or Hamar, or almost all the largest cities in Norway today, the cost of living is increasing, he says and adds: – If financial incentives had worked to get people to move to rural areas, they had already done so. I think they should look at the employer model Now the politicians in Sortland will work to influence which municipalities are included in the scheme. – We are also building the country through regions, where many small municipalities are inextricably linked to each other, says Mayor Ellingsen. She believes the solution will be to look at the employer’s tax model. – There, the very large cities are, in a way, exempt from paying in full, while the others are not. That would serve the purpose better, says the mayor of Sortland. Published 19.09.2024, at 17.11 Updated 19.09.2024, at 17.18
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The government’s new tax policy may make neighboring municipalities fight against each other – news Nordland
