If you have a disability, specific learning difficulty, or other additional needs such as a long term medical condition, you may be eligible for the Disabled Students' Allowance (DSA). 

Student Finance England are responsible for assessing whether you are eligible for DSA, and how much you will receive. 

If agreed, your DSA can fund the support required to enable you to better access your course, as a direct result of your additional needs. The allowance might help with the costs of specialist equipment, non-medical helpers, specialist tuition, mentoring and other costs as recommended. 

• Equipment and assistive software, such as mind mapping programmes and speech-to-text software.

• Funding for assistive technology training.

• Study Skills tuition.

• Mentoring.

• Help with other disability-related costs of studying.

• To check your eligibility for DSA please look at the government's guidance web pages.

You should send completed forms and evidence to Student Finance England, PO Box 210, Darlington, DL1 9HJ

It is recommended that you apply for this allowance as soon as possible. This will help to ensure the support you require can be funded at the commencement of your course. Further information and the DSA application form can be found on the government disabled student allowances page.

You can apply through us by booking an appointment to discuss your requirements. We can help you with any queries that you may have, complete the DSA form with you and send it to Student Finance England. Please contact us to book an appointment..

Or if you prefer, you can apply yourself at Student Finance England where you can access information and download the DSA application forms or telephone them on 0845 300 5090 (textphone 0845 604 4434) for an application form.

Students can apply for Disabled Students' Allowances now... please see the Student Finance website for details

Under current regulations for the Disabled Students’ Allowance (DSA), students are required to contribute the first £200 towards a computer when this is recommended in their DSA needs assessment report. The University recognises that, for some students, this is a barrier to them accessing the DSA, which means that they do not then benefit from the support which has been recommended. In recognition of this, the University has created a fund to which eligible students can apply. For more information on eligibility and to apply for funding, please download our DSA Contribution Fund form.

If you would like help applying for Disabled Students’ Allowance, please make an appointment with your disability, wellbeing or SpLD adviser. 

Please note that the Disabled Students’ Allowance process (from application to receipt of equipment) can take up to 14 weeks to complete, so we recommend applying for this as soon as possible, ideally before starting university.

For full details for external DSA study needs assessors please download our DSA Study Needs Assessors Reference Document below.