Money, SU and what it actually costs

An SU reform takes effect on 1 January 2027 and applies to anyone starting a new higher education programme on or after 1 July 2025 — which includes this cohort. The total grant frame for higher education drops from 70 to 58 portions, and SU is limited to the prescribed duration of your programme, with a completion loan of up to 24 months if you run out. Plan on finishing on time.

You meet the ties-to-Denmark requirement through one of seven ties — for example two years of continuous residence in Denmark in the last ten, having gone to school in Denmark for a substantial period, or a parent who has worked in Denmark for five years. In another Nordic country SU is paid as if you studied in Denmark; elsewhere it is capped at four years (48 klip). Either way it uses SU klip, within an overall frame of 70 klip for higher education abroad. su.dk does not yet say how the 2027 reform changes that frame, so check there before counting on it.

If you cannot claim SU, look first at your own country's student finance: several EU/EEA systems fund a full degree in another country.

Danish higher education is free for citizens of the EU, the EEA and Switzerland, and for anyone holding permanent residence or a temporary permit that can lead to it. If you hold a residence permit under the Special Act for displaced persons from Ukraine (Act no. 324 of 16 March 2022), you are exempt too, from both tuition and the application fee. Everyone else pays. Study in Denmark quotes a range of roughly €6,000–16,000 per year — about DKK 45,000–120,000 — but no year is attached to that figure, so treat it as indicative and ask the institution.

optagelse.dk charges nothing, but most universities charge non-EU/EEA applicants an application fee of roughly €100–200 per institution, payable by 15 March — Aalborg €150, Roskilde €200. An unpaid fee stops the application. Non-EU students then pay DKK 3,060 (2026 rate) for the residence permit itself.

Study in Denmark's own rough budget, per month:

For comparison, the immigration service requires non-EU students to show DKK 7,426 a month — the same figure as the SU rate, up to a maximum of DKK 89,112 for a programme longer than a year.

Danish universities have no tradition of campus accommodation. Most students live in kollegier — halls of residence, often some distance from campus — or rent privately. Start months before you arrive, and contact your institution about housing the moment you are accepted. August and September are the worst possible time to turn up without a room.

Where to look: ungdomsboliger.dk and studenterguiden.dk nationally; Kollegiernes Kontor in Copenhagen; Student Housing Aarhus; Studiebolig Aalborg; Boligoen and Kollegieboligselskabet in Odense.

EU, EEA, Nordic and Swiss citizens can work without restriction. Students from outside that group get a limited work permit: 90 hours a month from September to May, and full-time through June, July and August. Study in Denmark's own pages still quote the old 20-hours-a-week rule — the immigration service's 90 hours a month is the current one.

Students in Denmark typically work 10–20 hours a week. If you are an EU/EEA citizen without Danish citizenship and no other route to equal status, that job can also be your route to SU.

1. Residence document

   If you are a Nordic citizen you need none: you register directly for a CPR number at Citizen Service. If you already live in Denmark as another EU/EEA citizen, you will usually have a registration certificate; ask SIRI whether yours needs updating once you are here as a student rather than as a family member. If you are arriving, EU and EEA citizens get an EU registration certificate from SIRI within three months. Book the appointment in advance and bring your passport and letter of admission. Non-EU students need a residence permit before arrival — allow two to three months.

2. CPR number

   Your Danish personal number. If you already live in Denmark you have one, and it stays yours when you move for university — register the new address within five days. Otherwise your municipality issues it once you have an address and the right to stay.

3. Health card

   Arrives automatically with your CPR registration. Choose insurance group 1 — 98% of residents do — which gives you an assigned GP with free consultations and referrals.

4. Bank account and NemKonto

   Needs the CPR number. Register the account as your NemKonto so public bodies, including SU, can pay you.

Bring enough money for the first few weeks: rent plus a deposit will land before any of this is finished.