The Nordic Gap Year Kit · $197
75 Schools. All the Details.
Considering the Nordic gap year? These are the resources I wish I had as an American parent. It would have saved me a hundred hours.
Instant download after payment. 7-day money-back guarantee.
Is this you?
Intrigued by the Nordic gap year, and ready to start actually looking at schools?
Whether you are the parent or the student — if you're ready to move on to the next step and see which school could be right for you, then this is the place. That is what the Nordic Gap Year Kit is for.
Why I put this together
I want to make it easy for you.
I spent A LOT of time buried in research—countless hours on school websites trying to find the key details I needed to make my short list of options. I painstakingly went through 75 different websites, all different formats, sometimes translating page by page. It was a lot of work. It was exhausting, and overwhelming.
To save you the time and effort, I filtered, condensed and compiled all of it in one easily browsable document. Each school has two pages of information in the same standard format with all the key details you need to help you find the school for you.
Where we're at now
My daughter is in Norway now, on her Nordic Gap Year, and she is having the time of her life.
What you get
The Nordic Gap Year Kit
A downloadable PDF of all 75 schools and their key details, plus a year in the Member Area, where you can work with the school data and connect with other families going through the process. One payment. You get all of it.
- The Field GuideA 75-school PDF. Two pages per school in the same browsable format: location, weather, what they say about international students, the lines, the trips and what it costs. Yours forever.
- The interactive school databaseEvery school, online. Search and filter all 75 by region, interests, how much Norwegian they expect, where the trips go, winter, and more — then open a page on each one.
- The school matchmakerTen questions about your kid and what matters to you. You get a ranked shortlist, and the reasons each school made it.
- The timelineMonth by month from applying to arriving, including the study permit — so you know what to do, and when.
- The private communityA Facebook group of Nordic Gap Year families. Share experiences, compare notes, get advice from people a year ahead of you.
Corrections and new research land in the Member Area first.
A Peek inside the field guide
The facts on all 75 schools. Grouped by region.
Part one
The five regions of Norway.
Norway is not one place, and the schools in this book are grouped the way Norwegians actually talk about the country. Each region gets a page: what it looks and feels like to spend a winter there, and every school in it by name and town. It is the fastest way to cut 75 schools down to a region you would actually send her to. Above the Arctic Circle is a different proposition from an hour outside Oslo.
Part two
Then two pages on every single school.
The same meaningful information in the same format on every page, so you can browse easily and get your short list in a fraction of the time it would take otherwise.
- 1Exactly where it isThe town, the county, and a map of Norway with the spot marked. Some of these places are eight hundred miles apart.
- 2The school’s websiteA direct link and an email address, so you can go straight to the source or get in touch.
- 3A blurb about the schoolIn English. About the town, the facilities, the surroundings, access, and things the school is known for.
- 4The practical factsHow many spots, affiliation, number of lines, and whether or not they have half-year options.
- 5How much Norwegian do I need to know? The rating no school website publishes. Details on provisions for international students. Some schools have specific lines built for them, some don't. We will tell you here.
- 6The travel The destinations of the whole school trips and the line specific trips both in Norway and beyond.
- 7The weatherHow cold and long is winter? When does spring come? How about summer? What are temperature ranges?
- 8The cost The price range in kroner and in dollars, converted at a stated rate on a stated date. Subject to change due to exchange rate.
- 9Every line the school offersThe subject, what it is, what it costs, and where it travels.
It took me about a hundred hours. With this field guide it will take you an evening.
Instant download. 7-day money-back guarantee.
For real, how much does it cost?
Tuition is free. You just cover room, board and travel.
So how much does it cost?
The average range is $12,000-$17,000 for the year.
At a glance that seems like a lot.
But let's look at some numbers for comparison.
A Nordic Gap Year costs you about the same as room & board alone at a public four-year college in the US.
Understanding the difference in costs
Base prices are very similar across the schools, but what changes your cost is the line specific costs and the travel.
Two families can send their kids to the same school, the same year, and pay very different amounts— because of trip choices alone. It is going to cost a lot more to go to Japan for 5 weeks than Sweden for 5 days.
Some schools are more travel heavy than others. These schools carry higher costs because of it.
Some schools give the option for additional optional trips. These present unique opportunities, but keep in mind they add cost. But these costs you can control, because they are optional.
You'll see it all in the Field Guide.
Get the number you can put on the table.
Every school, every line, every trip, in dollars as well as kroner.
And one thing worth saying
About the adventurous lines.
Norway is consistently among the safest countries in the world, generally speaking. Keep in mind though, that some of these schools build their year around skiing, climbing, diving, sailing, even paragliding! As with anything like that anywhere, those activities carry real risk. They are run by the schools’ own instructors and staff, and at a number of these schools those instructors are working professionals in the thing they teach. If your kid is drawn to free-skiing in Japan or an avalanche safety line, it is worth asking that school directly what training and qualifications its instructors hold. Through the Field Guide you'll have a direct link to the school's specific websites and email addresses to reach out.
The offer
The Nordic Gap Year Kit
All 75 Norwegian folk high schools in one downloadable PDF + an exclusive Member Area where you can search and filter schools, take a school matchmaker quiz, see the timeline of the process from application to arrival, and join a private facebook community along with other Nordic Gap Year families.
Not sure yet? Start with the free guide — it is enough to work out whether this is worth pursuing at all.
- A PDF of all 75, in an easy-to-browse format
- A filterable, searchable school database
- An AI school matchmaker quiz
- A timeline of the process from application to arrival
- A private facebook community
Instant download after payment, and a copy by email. Member area accessed via code send by email. 7-day money-back guarantee — if it is not what you needed, tell us within seven days and we will refund you. If it will not open or it is not what this page said, tell us and we will make it right.
Terms.Have more questions?
The questions I get asked most.
Does my kid need to speak Norwegian?
Socially, your kid will be fine from day one. Norway has one of the highest rates of English proficiency in the world, and schools there start teaching it in 1st grade. At Isla’s school every student and teacher I met spoke English, and her classmates automatically switch to English to keep her in the conversation.
The classroom is a completely different question. Most schools say that teaching is in Norwegian. Some run a line built for international students in English, with Norwegian language and culture as the main subjects. Other schools say students should arrive already speaking some Norwegian. Knowing which school is which is very important, so I rate every school on a standard scale in the Field Guide:
★ No Norwegian required — the school has programming built for international students: a line designed around Norwegian language and culture, or lessons offered to students who arrive without it.
Some Norwegian expected — basic familiarity or a willingness to learn. Fluency not required. Open to international students, but with nothing built around them.
No program mentioned — the school says nothing about international students. Not the same as being closed to them, but there is no obvious accommodation either.
The rating is on every school’s page in the Field Guide, and it is one of the filters in the Member Area school database.
Is my kid going to be the only American?
Possibly, and it is not the problem you would expect. Isla is the only American at her school. Her cousin Ezra was one of six at his. Being the only one made her interesting — people were curious and made a point of including her. No school website tells you this, and the Field Guide cannot tell you either. Its going to change from year to year depending on who applies.
What it does tell you is how many spots each school has in total and whether it runs anything built for international students, which is the part you can actually act on.
For details on how many international kids are enrolled for your year you'll have to reach out to your school individually and ask them if they can share that information.
Is a year really tuition-free for an American?
Yes, and it is not a scholarship or a discount. In Norway, folk high schools are tuition free because the operating costs are subsidized by the government.
Norwegian law requires that all public funding and everything students pay for the year goes back into the school. No one is making a profit off your year.
Your cost is room, board and travel. That is where the $13,000–$17,000 comes from, and it is why the trips matter so much to the total cost to you.
Can she do half a year instead of the whole thing?
At most schools, yes — you can do an autumn or spring term instead of the full year. Line options may be more limited.
The field guide will tell you whether or not a school offers ½ year options.
What do I get, exactly, and how?
A PDF with a two page guide for each separate school. You pay, the download starts on the next page, and a copy goes to your email so you can find it later. The link in that email does not expire and it always serves the current edition — so when the book is updated, you get the update by clicking the same link.
You'll also get access to our Member Area. Here you will be able to interact with the school data through numerous filters and a school matchmaker quiz. Here you'll also be able to see the timeline for how the whole process goes, from the time you apply to the time you fly to Norway to start your program. You'll also get access to our private facebook community for families to network as they navigate the Nordic Gap Year.