Disabled Students' Allowances

(asked on 16th May 2018) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 15 May 2018 to Question 142874 on Disabled Students' Allowances, whether he has assessed the potential merits of providing additional student loans to fund the £200 contribution made by students in receipt of Disabled Students’ Allowances for the purchase of computer hardware.


Answered by
Sam Gyimah Portrait
Sam Gyimah
This question was answered on 21st May 2018

Disabled Student Allowances provide for the additional costs that a student is obliged to incur because of their disability to access their higher education course, but not costs that all students are obliged to incur, such as access to a computer. Maintenance loans are available as a contribution towards a student’s living costs at university, and we believe it is reasonable for any student to fund the purchase of a standard computer for email and word processing purposes from their maintenance support. We do not consider it is necessary to provide an additional £200 in the form of a loan, given that this is a cost that all students are expected to fund.

Any disabled student who is recommended a higher-powered computer to run assistive software is funded for any costs in excess of £200. Students are not expected to fund any assistive software or the training to use it.

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