Student Maintenance Loans To Rise 20% In Northern Ireland: What This Means For Students

By Luella Coley

On January 31st, Minister for the Economy, Conor Murphy MLA announced a 20% uplift in maintenance loans for students domiciled in Northern Ireland for the 2025/26 academic year, which comes only 2 years after a 40% increase in the 2023/24 academic year. This change is to be enacted alongside further reviews of higher education funding by the NI Department for the Economy.

For Queen’s students, this manifests in an increase in the maximum loan amount from £5250, to £6300, for students living at home, and from £6776 to £8132 for students living away from home. Some students will also continue to be eligible for means-tested maintenance grants of up to £3475.

Conor Murphy MLA cites the ongoing cost-of-living crisis and its impact on students, as cause for this increase, alongside the aspiration towards widening access to higher education for students. [1] It is also noted to be of great importance to reduce students’ reliance on, in some cases, having multiple part-time jobs, as this puts an imposition on their ability to fully engage in their university education.

This decision is a welcomed one, and comes after long-term campaigns from the likes of the National Union of Students Northern Ireland (NUS-USI), and individual Students’ Unions across Northern Ireland, including Queen’s SU. The pressure of the increasing cost-of-living in recent years has certainly been of a tangible nature, with Queen’s University and the QUB Students’ Union cooperatively working to provide support measures that many students will be familiar with – the pantry, the swap-shop and the highly popular free breakfasts.

Queen’s University Belfast’s President and Vice-Chancellor, Professor Sir Ian Greer contributed to the joint statement by the University and Students’ Union:

“Ensuring that students have the right support, both academically and financially, is essential to enabling them to reach their full potential. We remain committed to working with the Executive, the Students’ Union, and wider partners to continue advocating for policies and initiatives that make higher education accessible and inclusive for all, and we will keep working to create an environment where every student has the opportunity to succeed.” [2]

President of the Queen’s University Students’ Union, Kieran Minto, also spoke on the “big win” via a Queen’s Students’ Union instagram post, but importantly noted that alongside this success, there is still progress to make if higher education is to be really valued in our society. “It’s going to make a really big difference, especially to those most affected by the cost-of-living crisis. […] However, I think it is important to remember this is still a loan. We’re still adding more debt to the pile that students have to deal with.” [3]

Kieran also noted the need for campaigning to continue on the behalf of the students who have been left behind in this announcement. Those undertaking allied health courses, postgraduate degrees, or PhD studies are regarded as some of the students who are still being denied their fair share in the way of this increase. Furthermore, QUB has a large population of students from Great Britain, and ROI who will not be benefitted by this 20% uplift from the Northern Ireland Department for the Economy.

This assistance to students comes at an estimated additional cost of £50 million per year for the NI Executive, which prompts fears of simply adding to the staggering figure of £5.1bn in student loan debt owed in Northern Ireland, as reported in May 2024. [4] On average, students who began to repay their loans in 2024 owed a total of £25,700, but with repayment dependent on income, SLC figures from the 2023-34 period suggest that only a quarter of student loans have been paid off in full in Northern Ireland.

Ben Friel, NUS-USI President, speaking on BBC Radio Ulster, noted this link to increased debt, but accepts that it is simply a product of “the way student financing has been operating for a number of years” and reiterates that students need that money now. [5] This sentiment is one shared by many students – their dependence on this maintenance loan makes the impending debt a necessary and unavoidable one.

So, this much needed increase in funding directly into the pockets of students is a positive change for a great proportion of students at Queen’s, but many gaps are still to be filled, and students will eventually incur the long-term cost of repayment. [5]

References

[1] “Murphy Announces 20% Increase in Student Maintenance Loans from 2025/26”, Department
for the Economy, 31 Jan 2025,
https://www.economy-ni.gov.uk/news/murphy-announces-20-increase-student-maintenance-loan
s-202526

[2] “Joint Statement on Student Maintenance Uplift”, Queen’s University Belfast, 31 Jan 2025,
https://www.qub.ac.uk/News/Allnews/2025/joint-statement-student-maintenance-uplift.html

[3] “Further Statement from Kieran Minto…”, Queen’s Students’ Union, Instagram, 31 Jan 2025,
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DFfINuSuX4Q/

[4] Meredith, R., “Student Loans: Outstanding Student Debt in NI Tops £5bn”, BBC News,
4 Jul 2024, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cd1601we66jo

[5] “NUS USI Welcomes Student Maintenance Loans
Increase for NI Students”, The Students’ Union of Northern Ireland, YouTube, 4 Feb 2025,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkrK2l-UnHA