Funding of Kindergartens

Public grants to kindergartens are financed over the municipalities’ unrestricted income (framework funding and tax revenues). It is up to the individual municipality to decide how much funding will be allocated to kindergartens via the municipal budget.

The municipalities provide grants to approved, non-municipal kindergartens (privately owned, county-owned and state-owned) and all kindergartens are to be treated equally when distributing funding.

Maximum price from 1. january 2023 is NOK 3 000.

National minimum requirement for reduced parents’ fees   

The government has made kindergarten more affordable for low-income families and introduced an improved social profile for parents’ fees. The application of income-based differentiation in parents’ fees enables more families to take advantage of placement in kindergartens.

A national minimum requirement for reduced parents’ fees for low-income families was introduced on 1 May 2015. The fee for the first child is not to exceed six per cent of the family’s total capital and personal income, with a ceiling set at the maximum established parents’ fee. Current provisions on sibling discounts are being continued. Thus, the rates for the second, third, and additional children are 70 per cent and 50 per cent, respectively, of the parents’ fee for the first child. 

Free core time in kindergarten for three, four and five-year-olds from low-income families

A scheme providing 20 hours of free kindergarten a week (core time) for two, three, four and five-year-olds from low-income families was introduced in 2015. The income ceiling from 1. august 2021 year is NOK 566 100.