Here it is cheapest and most expensive as a student – VG

Less than 2 hours ago

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Being a student can be expensive. Especially if you live in cities like Oslo, Trondheim and Bergen. If you live in Volda, on the other hand, you can expect to have money left in your account after paying the rent.

A survey conducted on behalf of the Norwegian Student Organization (NSO) shows that it is clearly cheapest to be a student in Volda. Rental prices here are cheaper than anywhere else in the country, with an average price of 5164 for a place to stay.

There will always be a little difference in prices, because there are different homes on the market. Whether it is a room in a collective, a dormitory or an apartment.

Analyzed the rental market

In the current survey, the Danish research agency Analyze & Tall has compared housing ads in the country’s student cities from June to December 2021. The figures are taken from Finn.no and Hybel.no.

These will be the platforms the majority uses to find housing, according to a report from the Consumer Council in 2021. On a national basis, it cost an average of NOK 1,0389 a month to rent housing, in the relevant period, the survey shows.

The survey was conducted on behalf of NSO, and the goal has been to find out what the actual rental market looks like in selected cities. NSO wanted this after their own student housing survey from 2021 showed that the national coverage rate of student housing was at only 14.75 percent.

Most expensive in Oslo

Marit Falla Eriksen is 30 years old, studying to become a nurse living in Oslo.

She and a friend share an apartment in Oslo, and pay just under 7,200 each. The apartment is between 50 and 60 square meters. The other bills are not included in the rent.

Marit is 30 years old and then she is entitled to two years with extra student loans, but the third year she will have the usual amount paid out by Lånekassen.

She now has two part-time jobs in addition to her studies. This is because she saves money for the year she does not receive extra student support.

– I wish I could also devote 100 percent of my time to my studies. In the last two months, I have worked 50 percent alongside full-time studies, she says.

She thinks it’s a shame that a city like Oslo is so expensive to live in for students like her.

– If it had been possible with the same rent as you have in Volda, it would have been an extreme relief. Then I would have devoted all my time to my studies, it is a full-time job, says Eriksen.

Cheapest in Volda

Sindre Rabbel Tronstad is 23 years old and lives in Volda. There he studies to become a primary school teacher.

– I pay 4500 kroner a month and live on 150 square meters with three others. My bedroom is 18 square meters. It’s almost too big for me, he says.

He knows that other students do not like it.

– It’s almost something you do not appreciate big enough. It is very good. You hear on the news, especially down in the Oslo area, that you have to work next door to be able to persevere. Here in Volda it is the case that if you work next door then you live in luxury.

He himself does not work alongside his studies.

– I’m fine, and have more than enough of the student support left at the end of the month. I in no way envy those who study in the big city. It immediately becomes very expensive.

– We’re worried

NSO is a Norwegian interest organization for students in Norway, which represents around 250,000 students at Norwegian universities and colleges.

They believe that the figures in the survey show that what the students receive in student support is not enough to cover the expenses a student has.

– The survey shows that a student has an average of 1,098 kroner to live on a month when the rent is paid. It goes without saying that it is not enough. We are concerned that the students have to work instead of studying, says Tuva Todem Lund.

She believes that student support must increase and that rental prices and the high expenses among students help to create a divide.

– We are concerned that students have to work instead of studying. It also creates a divide between those who do not have a job and do not receive any help, and those who receive help from home or have well-paid jobs, she says.

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