Being an expat with a student loan

Norway is a rich country. We got it good. Compared to people from many other countries, most Norwegians are fairly well off. Some would even say loaded. We have a high living standard and the wages we earn must be among the highest in the world. Naturally, those high wages also drive the prices up, causing the costs of living to be among the highest in the world as well.

When I decided to leave my cozy, protected life in Norway just over a year ago, I guess I did it at least partly because I wanted to experience something different. One thing is for sure - I did not do it because I thought I was going to earn more money than I did. Having ventured into the ruthless world of cut-throat capitalism without any obviously marketable skills, I now feel the effects of that particular choice.

Every three months, I get a nasty message in my online banking site inbox; "Your quarterly payment is now due." An ugly lump of hard-earned money must leave my rapidly diminishing bank account. That really hurts. Living in Norway, I didn't really notice those payments to the degree I now do, as my salary was almost double my current one. And also, living up north, I had a sizable write-off that the Government gives as an incentive for people to settle up there. So the proportion of my salary I now pay is several times higher. Not good.

I guess we are very lucky in the sense that everyone in Norway has got the opportunity to get an education, no matter the economic situation of our parents. But considering the size of the student loan that we have to amass to get that education, in a sense it kind of limits our choices when it comes to work later on. We have to find a reasonably well paid job to be able to pay off the student loan.