Tuition free study in higher education in Scandinavia?

Tuition free study in higher education in Scandinavia?

I am an English teacher, and have decided to go back to school, but a little short on cash. I need to do some research regarding Scandinavian educational offers to foreigners, and any way I can come to live there, and study there (for a 4 year degree) tuition-free, meaning I become a resident of that country, and enroll in the cost-free, or lower-cost education services they offer to all residents. I need to know which country, and which universities offer the best offer (and I mean offer by the lowest cost to me) to come and study foreign languages there.

Most people in most countries pay thousands to study at a university. But in the Nordic countries, I've heard higher education is free. I want to apply to become a resident and then enroll in a languages program in one of these institutions.

My preferred countries are: Sweden, Norway, Iceland, and Estonia.

If you are a foreigner and you did this, or are a Scandinavian with first hand knowledge of this issue, please reply. Thank you.

In sweden, norway and iceland countries, there is so many tuition free study in higher educations. Also they provides good residential facilities in university campus. Most people like to study at a university.

Tuition free study in higher education in Scandinavia?

I am an English teacher, and have decided to go back to school, but a little short on cash. I need to do some research regarding Scandinavian educational offers to foreigners, and any way I can come to live there, and study there (for a 4 year degree) tuition-free, meaning I become a resident of that country, and enroll in the cost-free, or lower-cost education services they offer to all residents. I need to know which country, and which universities offer the best offer (and I mean offer by the lowest cost to me) to come and study foreign languages there.

Most people in most countries pay thousands to study at a university. But in the Nordic countries, I've heard higher education is free. I want to apply to become a resident and then enroll in a languages program in one of these institutions.

To get permanent residence in most scandinavian countries you must have already lived there for 3 years continuously (this is the lowest residency requirement in the world) thus your on mission impossible. Not only would you have to get 3 years residency you would have to learn the language to get residency, and you would normally need a job offer

My preferred countries are: Sweden, Norway, Iceland, and Estonia.

If you are a foreigner and you did this, or are a Scandinavian with first hand knowledge of this issue, please reply. Thank you.

Well I studied in a scandinavian school for 6 and 1/2 months. Estonia is not really considered scandinavia and is not really nordic either because it is in a totally different language group according to some estonia girl i met in scandinavia. finland is border line scandinavia as their language/culture is closer to the estonian group and there was great debate about whether to count it as one. Most icelandic people are of norwegian descent and norway, sweden and denmark along with greenland use to be all part of denmark so the languages are basically the same.

Learning in higher education is free in most schools but I had the "luxury" of studying at one of the private schools which in europe are generally considered better. However the public school system is generally for residents only, which means you need to become a resident before you will get free schooling. International students aka non-scandinavian people have to pay the regular tuition which is on part with regular canadian tuition minus the 50% subsidy aka 15-20k a year plus rent. scandinavia is more expensive than toronto to rent in general for major cities.

Ps a bachelors degree there is only 3 years and you most likely want to do a masters program there. But it will create trouble for pursuing a job and getting your credtials recognized on return to canada as 3 year degrees eliminate grad school and is not widely accepted by employers. Ie. a norwegian doctor must get a bachelors degree in canada

I know many expats i norway some married to norwegians for 5+ years and are only STARTING to become fluent or comfortable with norwegian. Do not underestimate the difficulty of learning a new language you have no background with.

If you choose to go scandinavian realise some things
1. there is a small chance that you can get residency through acceptance into a school program but you will still need 10k before you enter to prove you can support yourself. check out the immigration website of all of these countries. Your best bet is norway as they are the most desperate for people (high employment, large country, oil) vs sweden who has 3x population and same size or denmark or iceland with bad economy
2. can't gain scandinavian citizenship without renouncing your canadian one. Too many scandinavians go abroad and abuse the system so this law exist in all of them, no dual citizenship.
3. Sure you don't have to pay for tution in most schools but there are several down sides of this
-high sales tax, 25% sales tax on all goods
-high income tax 50-60% vs our 30-40%
-Lower wages. The average wage is hire and the difference in pay from the average ceo and janitor is 1:4. That is a janitor earns 50k and ceo earns 200k. However the problem is that people with lots of education will not find the same rewarding income as they would in Canada in comparision. ie. a typical mba in scandinavia will earn 30% less than their canadian counterpart.
4. Realize that if you become some kind of language specialist in swedish for example, your stuck in sweden with your degree. Scandinavian languages are basically worthless in north america and rest of europe. All scandinavians are fluently bi-lingual in english + native tongue.
5. Scandinavia is very cold in the winters and depression is very common there. You will see many white people with black skin because they use tanning beds alot to keep back depression in those 6 winter months where the sunsets at 4pm! and it is constantly cloudy without end
6. All of this was too much for me to want to stick around but I did have a nice vacation in Italy, and never knew how dirty and muggy toronto air was until a returned and realized I could not breath on a 24 degree day in July. rome is suppose to have bad pollution but there air is 100 times cleaner than ours.
7. A scandinavian education is really leading to a scandinavian citizenship or residency. It is not really an international destination. I had a good friend from africa. One decided to stay in norway and learn norwegian and basically work there and return with his high wage to africa with low cost of living. The other decided to do his masters in uk because scandinavian degrees are not really recognized abroad. Take from this what you will