You may have picked up a link for a lecturer/researcher; someone who has already received a degree. A Fulbright Scholar is usually in pursuit of a degree and doesn't get anywhere near that amount of money. Also, both governments support the program. It's not just the US. I think the info you want is here: http://www.fulbright.no/?module=Articles;action=Article.publicShow;ID=32
My friend is a Fulbright Scholar from Norway. She would be shocked to find out she is getting $5000 a month.
My understanding is she got about $10-12,000 her first year and that was it. After that, she only has her stipend to live on, which is the same $1400 or so that we all made as doctoral students before passing our comprehensive exams.
She has the title of Fulbright Scholar, which is trotted out at school functions and a crappy insurance coverage from them, worse than the university student insurance. Unless she gets something new on a Christmas trip home to Norway, she's been wearing the same clothes since we got here in 2001.
I have some additional scholarship income and often give my friend food, school supplies and other odds and ends, as $1400 doesn't go far in Seattle, rents being what they are.
I'm not supporting Egeland. I just didn't want people to have the wrong idea about the program. The money allowed her to get out of Norway with a little money to get an apartment, etc. over here. It was hardly a windfall for a 5 year program.