What is the DSA?

Disabled Students' Allowances (DSA) are grants to help with the extra costs a student may face as the direct result of a disability, health condition, mental health difficulty or specific learning difficulty. They are aimed at helping disabled people to study on an equal basis with other students.

The amount you can get isn't affected by your household income, and the allowances do not have to be repaid.

What they can be used for

Disabled Students' Allowances can help pay for:

• specialist equipment you need for studying - for example, computer software
• a non-medical helper, such as a note-taker, mentor or study skills tutor
• extra travel costs you have to pay because of your disability
• other costs - for example, tapes or Braille paper

Eligibility

You can apply if you are doing:

• a full-time course that lasts at least one year (including a distance-learning course)
• a part-time course that lasts at least one year and doesn't take more than twice as long to complete as an equivalent full-time course (including a distance-learning course)

How to apply

You apply to your funding body for DSA.  In most cases this will be Student Finance England. For students in receipt of an NHS bursary or a research council bursary, you should apply to the NHS or your Research Council who run an equivalent DSA scheme.

If you are unsure which funding body to apply to, please contact Disability Services for advice or look at the Student Finance England website.

Your funding body will ask you to complete a DSA application form (DSA1) and to submit supporting evidence of your disability such as a letter from an appropriate medical professional or an educational psychologist’s report. These forms can be downloaded from the Student Finance England website.

What happens next?

Your funding body will write to you to (hopefully) confirm that you are eligible for DSA.  The next step is to organise a Study Aids and Study Strategies Assessment (Assessment of Needs) where you will meet with an assessor to identify what support will assist you with your course of study.  Please see Assessment of Needs section of the website for further information.

Applying for the DSA can be a time-consuming process and it is important that this is started early if you want support in place when you arrive at University.