No, most people do not want to go to a private school. Amongst many Norwegians, going to private school for lower education is looked down upon and seen to imply you're either a stuck up snob or dumb enough to need special tuition.
And going to a private school for higher education is common only if you want specialised courses (MBA) or for some reason want to study abroad but is by no means economically impossible for most families.
As for cost: Salaries are also so high that a very substantial portion of families could afford to ship their son or daughter off to even a top level private US or UK university (especially given that part of that too can be subsidised by Norwegian government subsidies, and part financed with low cost student loans from the government)
(Edit: this has been even more true the last few years, as the financial crisis has made dollars and pounds dirt cheap from a Norwegian point of view)
And going to a private school for higher education is common only if you want specialised courses (MBA) or for some reason want to study abroad but is by no means economically impossible for most families.
As for cost: Salaries are also so high that a very substantial portion of families could afford to ship their son or daughter off to even a top level private US or UK university (especially given that part of that too can be subsidised by Norwegian government subsidies, and part financed with low cost student loans from the government)
(Edit: this has been even more true the last few years, as the financial crisis has made dollars and pounds dirt cheap from a Norwegian point of view)