Disabled Students' Allowance

Disabled Students’ Allowance (DSA) is extra support on top of your other student finance and can be used to pay for study-related costs such as equipment, non-medical help, travel and photocopying and printing.

You can apply for DSA to cover some of the extra costs you have because of a mental health condition, long term illness or any other disability.

You can get help with the costs of:

  • specialist equipment, for example a laptop if you need one because of your disability
  • non-medical helpers, for example a person such as a British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter or specialist note-taker
  • extra travel costs, to attend your course or placement because of your disability
  • other disability-related costs of studying, for example having to print additional copies of documents for proof-reading.

What's available

How much support you can get and what you can spend it on depends on your individual needs, not your household income.

You do not need to pay Disabled Students’ Allowance back.

2024 to 2025 academic year

Full-time or part-time undergraduate or postgraduate students can get up to £33,460 a year for support. This can be used to cover the costs of specialist equipment, a non-medical helper and more general costs you may have.

There’s also a travel allowance available to cover any study related travel costs you may have due to your disability.

2023 to 2024 academic year

Full-time or part-time undergraduate or postgraduate students can get up to £33,146 a year for support. This can be used to cover the costs of specialist equipment, a non-medical helper and more general costs you may have.

There’s also a travel allowance available to cover any study related travel costs you may have due to your disability.

Who qualifies

You can apply for Disabled Students’ Allowance if you have a disability under the Equality Act 2010 that affects your ability to study, such as a:

  • specific learning difficulty, for example dyslexia or ADHD
  • mental health condition, for example anxiety or depression
  • physical disability, for example if you have to use crutches, a wheelchair or a special keyboard
  • sensory disability, for example if you’re visually impaired, deaf or have a hearing impairment
  • long-term health condition, for example cancer, chronic heart disease or HIV.

You must also meet the standard student finance eligibility requirements (for example, the residency requirements and eligible student categories) to apply for Disabled Students’ Allowance. You can also check with your uni or college’s student finance advisors to discuss if your course qualifies for Disabled Students’ Allowance.

How to apply

How you apply depends on what type of course you’re studying and whether you’re applying for other student finance.

Applying online

If you’re a full-time undergraduate student, you can apply online (opens in a new tab) after you’ve applied for your other student finance. You won’t usually have to reapply for DSA each year.

Applying by post

If you’ve completed or are in the middle of completing your application for student finance and you also want to apply for Disabled Students' Allowance, you should complete this shortened version of the DSA1 Form.

If you’re not applying for any other student finance or if you do not have an online account, you’ll need to send us an application form.

There is a guide to help you complete the form and explain what evidence you need to send:

If you’re not applying for any other student finance, you’ll need to reapply for DSA each year. You won’t normally need to send us more evidence unless your needs have changed.

Proving your disability

Check your online account or the application form to see what evidence you need to give us. You can also submit a disability evidence form:

Your evidence or form can be uploaded to your online account. If you can’t upload your evidence, you can email it to our DSA team or send by it post.

Your needs assessment

Your needs assessment is an informal meeting with a skilled assessor who will recommend support and equipment to help you during your studies.

After your DSA application has been approved, we’ll send you a letter with details of your supplier. If you give us permission, we’ll pass your details directly to one of our two suppliers: Capita or Study Tech. They’ll then be in touch to arrange your needs assessment.

Before you attend your needs assessment, your needs assessor may ask you to send some medical evidence for them to review prior to your appointment. You needs assessment can be in person or remote (over video call).

Your DSA will pay for the cost of the assessment.

After the assessment, you’ll get an assessment report to tell you what equipment and other support you can get for your course.

Getting your support

Most payments will be sent directly to your supplier if you’ve given us permission. You’ll only receive payments if you’ve been awarded funding for general allowances, or if you’ve not given consent to allow us to make payments on your behalf. If you’ve made payments directly to the supplier, you can claim the costs back.

You can only claim for costs that have been included in your DSA2 entitlement letter.

Use this form if you need to claim for costs you’ve already paid for: