news has asked the public what you wonder about elections and politics? We have received several hundred questions. Here we answer one of them. – I have become a racer at writing a budget and always look for the cheapest items in the store, says Nina Øglænd Johnsen. The student at the University of Agder has to make many choices in everyday life in order to get the finances going. Nina submitted the following question: The student grant from Lånekassen increased this year by NOK 700, but why does it not increase in line with inflation? NOK 9,400 a month is still far too little to live on. The 26-year-old can barely afford to go to the doctor. A dentist is completely out of the question. – The student aid has increased a little, but that doesn’t help when everything has become more expensive, says Nina. Feeling poorer Are Oust, professor of financial economics at NTNU, can reassure Nina and all other students that the student aid actually follows inflation. – But it doesn’t always feel like that because it does so with a slight time delay. It is not forward-looking. Inflation is the reason why student aid is increasing so much this year, says Oust. – How badly can today’s students really afford it? – Seen in a historical perspective, they actually have quite good advice. According to Oust, a person who has lived only on student aid can afford just as much now as 15 years ago, but for those who work and receive a salary, their purchasing power has increased. They can therefore afford a little more than the students. – For those of us who have a salary, it has risen faster than the student grant. Therefore, it may be that the students feel poorer, says the professor. Professor Are Oust at NTNU believes there are many good arguments for students to follow wage trends in society. – But that does not mean that they are worse off now than ten years ago, he says. Photo: NTNU – Now you will have a lot of people on your back. On what do you base the conclusion that students can afford it quite well? – It is a calculation. We know what the student grant is, and we know which goods and services the students need to buy. The authorities calculate this every year and we can check their calculations. The politicians answer Nina’s question. Swipe to see what they want to do with the student grant: Kari-Anne Jønnes, parliamentary representative for the Conservative Party and member of the education and research committee “The basic amount in the national insurance is primarily used to regulate benefits from the national insurance, while the student grant, like many other public scholarship schemes or grants must normally be dealt with in the annual budgets. We will give the students a voluntary opportunity to increase the loan share so that the student grant in total corresponds to the requirement from NSO of 1.5 G, which is close to NOK 40,000 more than the current grant. The students themselves want it, the state has liquidity, and if the parties join us, it could give the students NOK 3,500 more per month in their pockets tomorrow. After a long period of decline under the red-greens, student aid received a big boost with the Conservative Party in government, through the introduction of 11 months’ study support and increases in line with wage and price growth. Høyre’s goal is to continue to increase student aid beyond wage and price growth. Now purchasing power is falling again under the Støre government, and many students are struggling and incurring financial challenges. Høyre has long been concerned with giving students the opportunity to primarily be students. It has been a cornerstone of education policy since the quality reform was initiated 20 years ago. Precisely for this reason, we have prioritized study support and student welfare highly, and want students to have the opportunity to prioritize time for increased learning, implementation and ensure that more people get into work more quickly. In addition to study support, we are concerned with the students’ well-being, and the importance of the associations’ role in this. It is important that the associations have fair frameworks so that they can facilitate low-threshold offers for all students, both at small and large campuses”. Abid Raja, parliamentary representative for the Liberal Party and member of the education and research committee “In contrast to the Conservative Party and Labor Party will The left wants the student grant to be linked to the basic amount in the national insurance (G), and aims for the student grant to be increased to 1.5 G. This would give the students a safer everyday life, better opportunities to succeed in their studies and more predictability for their financial situation. Student aid has been too low for too long, and it has become particularly demanding for many students with increased food and rent prices. Venstre wants to increase the student support to 1.5 G. This would give students a basic support of NOK 16,175 a month, an increase of NOK 3,638 compared to the current level. For students with children, we will also increase the student support for 2G. The Liberal Party won approval in the previous government to introduce 11 months of study support, which today means that students also receive money for the month of June. For the Liberal Party, it is important that the students are given the freedom to focus on their studies. It is good for them and the educational institutions, but it is also an investment in Norway in the long term. We need more people who complete higher education both in Norwegian business and to solve the tasks in the public sector. At the same time, there is nothing wrong with having a part-time job alongside your studies for those who want it. That’s why we want to raise the cost limits for what you can earn while getting a student loan”. Elise Waagen, parliamentary representative and education policy spokesperson for the Labor Party “We want to strengthen the students’ purchasing power. That is the reason why we have increased the student aid so much this year. From August this year, it increased by 7 percent. It is the biggest increase in 15 years. We wish it amounted to more. Because with increased housing and living costs, we know that it eats up quite a bit. But 7 per cent corresponds to an increase of NOK 9,000 a year and we hope and believe it will mean a lot. How much the student aid should be is a political decision. The most important thing is to have a study grant that you can live on. Having said that, I know that the Norwegian Student Organization wants the student grant to correspond to 1.5 G and as of now it costs NOK 2.2 billion. It’s not possible to get more than a little, but I’m sure that the increase we’ve achieved so far means a lot, and we also have to work to further strengthen the students’ purchasing power. Having a student grant that allows you to live on it is fundamentally important. It is important for everyone to have the opportunity to study and that it should not be the wallet of the parents that determines which opportunities you have. Strengthening students’ purchasing power is important. It is also part of the background to why we have achieved the increase we have achieved this year”. Don’t want castles in the air From this autumn, student aid increased by 7 per cent. This corresponds to an increase of NOK 9,000 a year. The Norwegian Student Organization (NSO) believes the increase has simply disappeared in the price increase, as student Nina (26) also points out. – We expect that the promise the government has made to increase students’ purchasing power will not just be a pipe dream, says NSO leader Oline Sæther. The organization represents 260,000 Norwegian students. Sæther wonders where Professor Oust gets the figures that show that students can afford it quite well. – Today, the student grant covers 65 per cent of sober consumption. 15 years ago it covered 70 percent. The students lose out on the politically controlled student aid. Leader of the Norwegian Student Organisation, Oline Sæther, believes that student support is something that enables education as an important tool for leveling social inequalities. Photo: Skjalg Bøhmer Vold Good advice in the 90s NSO believes that student aid should be adjusted according to the basic amount in the national insurance and not according to expected price growth as is the case today. – It will be predictable. Then we will also follow the price development, says Sæther. She says that the student grant in the 90s corresponded to a basic amount of 1.58. Today it corresponds to 1.16 G. – Many of today’s politicians were students in the 90s. They had completely different financial conditions than today’s students. Professor Oust believes that the reason why student aid seemed higher in the 90s was that rent fell. Although the economics professor states that today’s students can afford it, he believes that student aid must be increased quite a bit in the future. – Students spend a large part of their income – on average 50 per cent – on accommodation, and rent prices will increase a lot in the next few years, he says. Oust also thinks it would be a good idea to give the students a tax deduction linked to their rent or a grant that was adapted to where they live in the country. – The financial differences between those who live in Oslo or other places where housing does not cost so much are large, he says. Students work more Sæther in NSO is also concerned that Norwegian students are working more and more. According to the 2022 student barometer, Norwegian full-time students work an average of 9 hours a week. Figures from Statistics Norway (SSB) also show that an increasingly large proportion of students’ income comes from paid work. – Those who have good finances or receive help from their parents have a better opportunity to study than others. We believe that everyone should have equal opportunities to prioritize education and then the student aid must be increased considerably, she says. What are your thoughts on this matter? Enter your comment here. Hello! Welcome to dialogue at news. 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Why does student aid not follow inflation? – news Sørlandet – Local news, TV and radio
