Monthly maintenance grant payments could be coming to Norn Iron

A new consultation will decide whether Northern Irish students will receive their maintenance grant payments in monthly instalments.

In the past, we’ve all come to know the boom-and-bust cycle of student finance. From that initial feeling of elation as you see all those zeros transfer into your account in one lump to the intense regret of buying that round in Ollie’s while you stare at the calendar, and count down the months until the next loan payment.

But all this may all be set to change if the Department for Employment and Learning’s new inquiry recommends a transition to monthly payments.

Jager bombs on me, boys

Currently students in Northern Ireland receive their maintenance loan and grant payments three times a year, coinciding with a massive surge in ASOS deliveries to your street.

Now student leaders recommend monthly payments would help us manage our finances more easily.

When your loan comes in and you treat yourself to a new outfit

A monthly payment system is already in operation in Scotland.

Scottish students receive their student finance in one big payment in September, followed by smaller monthly payments throughout the rest of the academic year.

While the new system may help keep our finances more steady, there are unfortunately no plans to raise the amount of maintenance grants currently awarded to students.

The DEL’s consultation is due to finish on the 27th September, just in time for freshers.

If implemented, the changes would cost between £250,000 and £350,000.

Minister Stephen Farry, who oversees the DEL, said: “While there is little flexibility in the current financial context with the overall level of support available to students, there is scope to consider the profiling of that support.”