Queen's University has announced it will be making a cost of living payment to students and most staff.
Most of the university's 25,000 students will receive a payment of £150, while around 3,600 students from families with household incomes below £25,000 will get a higher payment of £400.
Around 3,000 staff, which is all apart from senior managers, will receive a payment between £500 and £750. The university is set to spend a total of £8million making the extra payments.
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The university recently declared a "critical incident" due to rises in the cost of living, however, these new payments will not be made until January 2023.
When asked why there was a delay in the payments being made, the university's vice-chancellor Professor Ian Greer told BBC News NI: "Students have largely just received their student loan support funding, and we felt the time of greatest need would be just after the Christmas period."
Prof Greer said the university was considering further measures such as providing breakfasts for staff and students, with decisions being made on those in the coming weeks.
"There's no doubt that fuel in particular has been a problem across the board, not just for our student population but our staff also," he said.
"In addition the cost of food is also increasing and that causes general hardship for students who are on a very modest income in any event."
Emma Murphy, president of Queen's Student's Union, said the payments were welcomed. She added: "It has come from strong lobbying on our behalf of students, making sure that their voices are being heard and listened to and that the university is recognising the really tough times they are going to go through over the winter months."
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