Disabled Students' Allowances (DSA)
You may be eligible to apply for DSA if:
Including:
Disabled Students' Allowances (DSA) is an additional source of funding to help with costs incurred when accessing study, for example, 1-1 specialist study skills tuition.
Home students (full / part-time and certain postgraduate) who can show that they have a disability, mental health condition or specific learning difficulty that affects their ability to study may be eligible for allowances.
How to apply
Students who are eligible for an NHS bursary (if your course started before 31 July 2017) need to apply via your BOSS account (with the exception of Social Work students). See the NHS bursary website for more information and to apply.
All other students, including Social Work students, must apply to Student Finance for DSA. See the websites below for more information and to apply:
Student Finance Northern Ireland
Students Awards Agency (Scotland)
When you apply you will need to provide evidence of your disability. This should be a medical report, doctors letter or an independent educational psychologists or specialist teachers assessment.
What happens next?
You will receive a letter from your funding body letting you know whether you are eligible for DSA.
If you are eligible you will be asked to book a 'Needs Assessment'. During your Needs Assessment you will talk about your individual support needs and the support that can be offered to help you.
The assessment has to be completed by an independent Assessment Centre, you can find a full list of all of the accredited assessment centres in the UK on the NNAC Website.
Following your Needs Assessment you will receive a report detailing the recommendations that have been made to support you. If you gave your consent, Student Life will also receive a copy of this.
When we receive your report we will invite you in to meet with us to make sure that you are happy with the arrangements and to ensure that they are in place.
We will update your Reasonable Adjustment agreement to reflect the recommendations in your report and send this to your tutors (with your consent) so that they can support you.
There is more information about DSA at: www.direct.gov.uk/dsas and www.yourdsa.com
Contact your Disability Adviser:
University of Suffolk, Ipswich
Email: studentservices@uos.ac.uk
Tel: 01473 338833
University of Suffolk at Suffolk New College
Email: christiethompson@suffolk.ac.uk
Tel: 01473 382738
University of Suffolk at West Suffolk College
Email: Emma.harrison@wsc.ac.uk
University of Suffolk at East Coast College
Email: c.cutter@eastcoast.ac.uk
University of Suffolk at London School of Commerce
Email: rabindra.shreshta@lsclondon.co.uk
University of Suffolk at Global Banking School
Email: welfare@globalbanking.ac.uk