Half of the North's students will benefit from a review of student support carried out by the Higher and Further Education Minister.
Dr Sean Farren told the Assembly the Executive had approved proposals for a package worth £65 million over three years.
The main points of the package, outlined before Christmas, were the introduction of means tested bursaries for those in further and higher education, an increase in the income threshold for paying college fees and the abolition of fees for certain further education (FE) courses.
Dr Farren said 3,000 students in further education would benefit from the new bursaries, worth up to £1,500. He said a list of the vocational FE courses which would have fees removed was being drawn up.
He said the residual income threshold, at which a student contribution towards fees become due, is to be raised from £17,805 to £20,000.
Dr Farren said "this will have the effect that over 50 per cent of students will not be paying anything towards the cost of their tuition".
When these two measures were taken together, he said, "half of all higher education students will benefit".
Dr Farren also announced the introduction of a childcare grant worth up to £85 per week for students on low incomes with dependent children.
Many MLAs welcomed the new funding but said it did not go far enough.
Dr Esmond Birnie, the UUP Higher and Further Education Committee chairman, said that when compared to Scotland the grants being offered and family income thresholds were much lower than those being offered there.
Prof Monica McWilliams, of the Women's Coalition, noted "the SDLP's website still says `the SDLP are committed to the abolition of student loans and the introduction of a proper grants system'. "
She said many of the measures were "a step backward and not a step forward".
She could not welcome the approach of "throwing a little tiny bit of money" at the problem.
Ms Mary Nelis, of Sinn Fein, asked if the Minister shared the view that up-front fees still acted as a deterrent to working class families.
Dr Farren said his package of proposals was a challenge to this perception.
"Quite obviously the package, in terms of the access bursaries, is very clearly targeted at meeting the perception that debt aversion deters students who might enter third-level education," he said.