You should discuss your needs with your institutional disability adviser-
Disability advisers are available at most higher education institutions and play an important role in the DSA process. The role of disability advisers may vary between institutions but generally they will:
The Local Authority (LA) must consider all cases where students face extra costs to attend their course because of their disability or specific learning difficulty. If you have a physical disability, a mental-health difficulty or a specific learning difficulty such as dyslexia, you may qualify.
If your condition has been documented at an earlier stage, your eligibility for DSAs can be easily proved, but a previous assessment of a specific learning difficulty, such as dyslexia, may need to be updated. However, you will need to satisfy the LA that the effects of your condition will mean that you will need to pay extra costs in studying the course. If you have mental-health difficulties, you will need to provide medical proof of your disability, such as a letter from your doctor or specialist.
If you have more than one medical condition, you should provide evidence for all of them.
If you have a specific leaning difficulty, the LA will need evidence of this from a suitably qualified person. When students with a specific learning difficulty apply for DSAs, it is recommended that the LA accepts any full diagnostic assessment that has been carried out since they were 16.
As part of the DSA assessment process, the LA may ask you for an update of a previous diagnostic assessment to see what the likely effect of your specific learning difficulty will have on the skills you need for higher education.
The LA may ask you to have an independent assessment to establish your disability and eligibility for DSAs. The University or college disability adviser may be able to help you arrange an updated, or new assessment.
The LA cannot meet the costs of diagnosing your disability for establishing your eligibility for DSAs.
Ask the LEA what evidence of your disability they will need before you send in your application. If you need a test to establish your eligibility for DSAs, but cannot afford the fee, you can apply to your university or college for help in meeting the costs through the Access to Learning Fund. The university's or college’s disability adviser may be able to help you with this.
If you are entering higher education for the first time in 2007/08 and are applying to the LA for financial support, you will find that the application form asks if you have a disability. You can apply on paper using form PN1 (form PR1 if you are a continuing student) or on-line at www.studentfinancedirect.co.uk
The LA will send you a DSA1 form for completing. You will need to return this form to the LA with evidence of your disability.
Once the LA has confirmed your eligibility for DSAs, they will then ask you to have an assessment of needs carried out so that the help you need on your course can be identified and arranged. Following your assessment of needs, the LA will let you know the level of help you can have from DSAs.
If you are a part-time student and want to apply for DSAs, you should ask the LA to send you the DSA1 application form. You can also download this from the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) website at www.dcsf.gov.uk/studentsupport/formsandguides or from the Student Finance Direct website at www.studentfinancedirect.co.uk
If you are a postgraduate student, you should ask the LA to send you the DSA1 application form. You can also download this form the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) website at www.dcsf.gov.uk/studentsupport/formsandguides or from the Student Finance Direct website at www.studentfinancedirect.co.uk
If, when you register for a course, you have told the Open University that you have a disability or specific learning disability, the OUs DSA office will automatically send you all the information you need to apply for a DSA.
Apply as soon as you can before your course starts in order to receive payments promptly. However, you can apply for DSAs at any stage of your course.
If your application is successful, the LA will tell you the amount you can have from the DSA. Student Finance Direct will make DSA payments either to you, into your bank account, or directly to the supplier of equipment or services.
No, DSAs do not depend on your income or the income of your family.
DSAs are not paid as a set amount. The LA will find out what you need and how much it will cost, usually by asking that you have a DSA assessment. You will only get enough money from the DSAs to cover the cost of the equipment or support you need because of your disability. The amount of DSAs you receive will depend on the DSA assessment. If you are a part-time student, you will have to get certification from your higher education institution that your rate of study is at least 50% of a full time course in order to be eligible, and to work out the rate of the non-medical helpers and general allowances.
However, there is a limit to the amount of help you can get from the DSAs. The rates shown below are the maximum you can get. They are meant to support people with a high level of need, so most people will get less than the maximum.
This allowance covers major items of equipment, the need for which arises from a disability, and which are necessary to enable a student to benefit fully from the course. It is payable at any time during the course, by one or more installments, provided that the aggregated total of the payments does not exceed the maximum prescribed limit of £4,905 for the course. If it is more economical, items of equipment should be leased rather than purchased, especially if the claim is made during the latter stages of the course. Disabled students may find www.abilitynet.co.uk an external site, of use and interest. It provides impartial, expert advice about computer technology for people with disabilities.
This allowance reimburses students up to a maximum of £12,420 per annum for expenditure on personal helpers such as readers, lip speakers, note takers, non-medical carers, necessary for the student to benefit fully from the course. The authority must be satisfied that the expenses are in respect the student's disability, and arise as a direct consequence of attendance on the course. The provision of these allowances does not remove the duty of local Social Services to provide assistance towards personal care costs which would have been incurred irrespective of a student's attendance on a course.
This allowance has a maximum of £1,640 per annum and provides for supplementary payments for disability related expenditure incurred because of attendance on the course. The allowance may be used for miscellaneous expenditure not covered by the specific allowances and to supplement expenditure on non-medical helpers and/or special equipment in excess of the maxima of the specific allowances.
Reimbursement of travel expenses may also be claimed if, by reason of your disability, you incur additional expenditure. You will be asked to show how your disability incurs additional cost, and to provide medical evidence if necessary.
Specialist equipment allowance – up to £4,905 for the whole of your course
Non-medical helper’s allowance as a percentage of the full time rate, according to the workload of a part-time course, up to £9,315 a year. For example, for a student studying:
50% of a full-time course up to £6,210 a year; or
60% of a full time course up to £7,452 a year
General disabled students’ allowance as a percentage of the full-time rate in the same way as the non-medical helper’s allowance, to a maximum of £1,230 a year.
As explained for full-time undergraduate students
There is one allowance to meet all costs of up to £5,915 a year for both full-time and part-time postgraduate students. You can use this for specialist equipment, non-medical personal helpers, extra travel costs or other course related costs. The amount of DSA you receive will depend on the DSA assessment.
The LA will ask you to have a DSA assessment carried out. This is so that your particular needs can be matched with those of your proposed course so that you can get the help that you will need.
The DSA assessment will be carried out by a person with specialist experience at an independant assessment centre, or at a centre within your college or university.
All equipment bought with DSAs is, and will stay, your property.
Possibly. The LA may have to recover some or all of your DSAs if you withdraw from your course.
Financial Support for Higher Education - Disabled Students Allowance (DSA) factsheet (PDF 62k)
Skill: The National Bureau for Students with DisabilitiesSkill is a national charity promoting opportunities for young people and adults in the UK with any kind of disability in further or higher education, training and employment.
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