Hi Jean, I hope your son decided to go. My daughter attended Harstad school and is loving it! It has made her much more ready for college, and the confidence she has gained is tremendous. She is doing the friluftsliv program. After the interruptions of Covid during high school, and just getting through, she needed a year to be away and just live without grades, etc. She’ll be attending college back in the U.S. this fall but the year has been very, very valuable.

Has it become more common for “pensioners” to attend folkehogskole? And, do you know if someone who attended folkehogskole and volunteered at say, a park, would be considered for residency?

How did your sons year go? My 18year old son is interested in studying in Norway for a GAP year after high school this spring ‘23. Any advice?

December 2022
Hello, My18 year old son has expressed interested in doing a GAP year in Norway. Looking back how did yours go? What would you do again? What do you wish you knew in choosing a “school” course of study, everything in general. Thank you.

You made a mistake when saying that Folkehøgskoles gives you four whole study points in certain subjects for university. This is not true. You can’t use a folkehøgskole to cover subjects at university, as a folkehøgskole is completely separate from the education system, and they don’t conduct any exams or give out degrees or anything like that. If you finish a whole year at a folkehøgskole, then you get 2 points which can be used to help enter university, as all degrees have a point base system, which can range anywhere from 30 points up to 70 points. The higher the points that are needed to enter that certain degree, the more difficult it is to enter. So you will find law/medicine/engineering and veterinary medicine requiring a high number of points to be accepted.

Between secondary school and university.

Nearly all students are between 18-25 years old. Most students who attend a folkehøgskole have just finished secondary school in Norway. While a 40 year old can attend, the person would probably feel a bit awkward and out of place having to try to make friends with people half their age. I know that there are 2 schools that are for pensioners and older people, but they only offer short courses that last a few days. I will be attending a folkehøgskole this August with the main focus on my “linje (main course) being the Norwegian language. So I will be there from August to May next year, with me probably continuing to live in Norway afterwards.

Hope that answers your question.