An overview of the funding and funded support available to you in your studies. Advice about how and when to apply for this support.

General Student Finance (e.g. tuition fees and loans)

Students are often eligible to apply for a loan which can help to pay for university tuition fees and to help with living costs. Funding arrangements differ depending on the personal circumstances of the student and the chosen course. This process can take a long time so we would recommend applying early to give you the best possible chance of having funding in place in time for the start of your course.

For more information, refer to your home government student funding authority:

Students Award Agency Scotland

Student Finance England

Student Finance Wales

Student Finance Northern Ireland

Higher Education Authority Ireland

Student Finance Jersey

If you have any questions or concerns about this the QMU Student Funding Service can help.

Disabled Students’ Allowances

Disabled Students Allowance (DSA) is government funding intended to cover the extra costs of having a physical disability, sensory impairment, long-term health condition, mental health condition, or neurodivergence such as autism, dyslexia or dyspraxia. You can apply to your funding body (e.g. Student Awards Agency Scotland, SAAS) for Disabled Students’ Allowance. Your Disability Adviser at QMU can guide you through this process. If you’re not sure who your Disability Adviser is, contact DisabilityAdvisers@qmu.ac.uk

NB: We recognise that not every autistic person would use the word ‘disabled’ about themselves. This includes a lot of the students we spoke to in our surveys. However, Disabled Students Allowance (DSA) is the main way to access support for your study needs at the start of your course and beyond, so it is important to know all about it.

Most autistic students who have been diagnosed, and are studying on an eligible course, are entitled to DSA – it is not related to any other benefits (even DLA or PIP) or means-tested. It is not a loan – you don’t need to pay money back for support purchased or used.

DSA can help with the cost of any additional support you might require whilst studying, such as:

• One-to-one support (such as a specialist mentor)
• Specialist equipment (including useful software, such as mind mapping to help you make sense of a topic)
• Travel (like getting taxis when public transport is challenging)

DSA won’t cover costs that all students would have to pay for, like buying textbooks or standard laptops or tickets for the bus to and from university.

Autistic students who claim DSA are less likely to drop out of university and more likely to achieve their full potential.

Whether or not you received, or felt you needed support during school or college, university life is very different from the type of study you have been used to and getting the right support in place can make your life a lot easier. DSA is intended to level the playing field for students who have disabilities, long-term conditions, mental health conditions, autism and specific learning difficulties like dyslexia and ADHD.

Students in our Autism&Uni surveys who told the university about their autism and got support early in their course were more likely to enjoy their time at uni and graduate with good grades than those who didn’t get any support.

The timing of the support is important too – students who had all their support in place before the end of the first semester had a much better experience than those students who did not access support. This means applying for DSA as early as you can is a very good idea – it doesn’t matter if the university you end up going to changes.

You can also choose to access support at any point throughout your studies, even if you haven’t previously told the university about your autism, or you receive a diagnosis of autism following commencement of your studies.

Your support can also be reviewed and amended at any time if you find your needs have changed during your course or the support you have in place is not really working for you. Your Disability Adviser is available for you to contact at any point. Matriculated students can book a Disability Adviser appointment on Student Central. Alternatively, email our team at DisabilityAdvisers@qmu.ac.uk and we will connect you with the right Adviser.

Your DSA study needs assessment

If you are funded by SAAS or HEA, QMU can arrange a DSA needs assessment for you with one of our trusted DSA need assessors.

For SFE, SFW and SFNI students, your funding body will advise you when your application for DSA has been approved and will tell you when and how to book a needs assessment.

The needs assessment tends to be a structured but fairly informal one-to-one discussion with a DSA needs assessor which will usually last around 2 hours. You won’t be tested or have to complete any assessment yourself, but the needs assessor will have specific questions they need to ask in order to explore your support needs.

The needs assessment is an opportunity to talk to somebody in depth about:

• the positive and negative aspects of studying in the past
• the positive and negative aspects of any support you have received in the past at home/school/college
• any worries you might have about going to uni
• what you’re excited about and think you will do well at
• what you think might help you achieve that success

You will also get to learn a bit more about the kind of help that is available to you – many students don’t really know much about this and are amazed to find out what is out there and how it may work for them.

• How do you feel about making notes in lectures, where most of what is said does not end up on a whiteboard or the PowerPoint slides? It is also not possible to write down every word that is said.
• Would being able to record lectures help you?
• How do you make and organise your notes when reading or revising?
• Do you enjoy going to new places?
• Do you find new places easily?
• Does it help to have someone with you when you go somewhere for the first time?
• What are you most excited about when it comes to your course?
• What would you like to know more about or might need support to do before you get excited?
• How do you feel about group work?
• How do you manage your free time?
• Are you always on time for appointments without help from someone else?
• Do you like to be in busy, lively places or quiet places?
• How do you find out about new topics?
• Do you find it easy to organise your ideas and structure them in writing?
• Do you find academic writing easy? How about spelling, punctuation and grammar?
• Would you like somebody to talk to about your autism who has a good understanding of both autism and university?
• Do you have any other conditions like dyslexia, dyspraxia or ADHD?
• Does it help you to read information from the internet if you can print it out?
• Who supported you with your work at school and what did they do that was helpful?
• What helps you when you’re stressed? Music, exercise, art, reading, playing games, talking to others?
• Did you use any tools like visual schedules, social stories, coloured overlays, coloured paper or alarms to help you at school or college?
• How do you feel about talking to people about your autism, including tutors and other students?