Last week I wrote about Swedish relationships – the Sambo.  Plenty of non-Swedes end up in Sweden because of a relationship, love refugees if you will. Others though come to the country for educational purposes.

Sweden has long prided itself on offering a free education to anyone and everyone.  Whether you were a citizen or not, a public education was free for the taking.  Obviously, there were hurdles to jump over so that you could be accepted and granted a visa, but many people didn’t have any trouble getting in.

But you may have noticed I have been writing in the past tense.  Which is only partially correct.  Technically, a university education is still free, even to non-Swedes.  But that is in the process of changing.  As of fall 2011, non-EU students will have to pay tuition.

The tuition itself has yet to be decided, and will actually be defined by the universities themselves.  However, it is believed that the average yearly tuition will land somewhere between 60,000 and 80,000 SEK (Check out SVD for an article about this in Swedish, TheLocal for an article in English).

This decision does not come without controversy as many people believe that charging tuition will hurt the Swedish educational system internationally and students who had hoped to gain a Swedish education will be priced out of it. Others believe charging tuition is important if Sweden hopes to compete educationally on an international level.

Again, the ruling only counts against non-EU students.  Permanent residents who are living in Sweden but do not yet have citizenship are exempt from tuition.  Exchange students spending a semester or a full year here are exempt from tuition.  American students with no EU citizenship earning their master’s here are NOT exempt from tuition.  I think you get the idea.

Two different scholarship funds have been set up to help offset the costs. One is reserved for students from countries with which Sweden has an outstanding relationship and that are judged to be developing countries. The second scholarship fund is open to anyone eligible to study in Sweden needing to pay tuition.

If you’re looking to study in Sweden, be sure to keep in mind this change in policy and plan accordingly.  Or be sure to get over here before the tuition law is put into place.  If you’re studying here before the fall of 2011, you will be grandfathered in.

For more information be sure to read about the new law at Sweden.gov as well as the wonderful online educational resource Study In Sweden that has been incredibly helpful with their FAQ about the new tuition.  They can also be reached on Twitter @StudyInSweden where you can get some quick answers.