NI student’s funding fears over University of Oxford place

Tom Allingham, communications director of student finance website Save the Student, says it is not “a unique case”.

“The amount of post-graduate funding available for students from Northern Ireland is substantially lower than anywhere else in the UK,” he said.

In a statement, a Department for the Economy spokesperson said that following a review and consultation on the level of postgraduate tuition fee loans in 2022, the “maximum amount of postgraduate tuition fee loan, available to eligible Northern Ireland domiciled students, increased from £5,500 to £6,500 with effect from the beginning of the 2023/24 academic year”.

“This increased loan amount, to be reviewed at least every three years, was determined at the time of the review to cover the majority of postgraduate taught fee levels set by higher education institutions in Northern Ireland.

“The review also considered the introduction of a postgraduate maintenance loan product.”

However, this option was “not deemed feasible at that time”, the spokesperson said.

“Since he came into post the economy minister has been clear about his wish to strengthen the support provided to students and he will be considering a number of options going forward,” they added.