How to apply for DSA as a Student Nurse

Studying as a student nurse can be challenging, especially if you have a disability, health condition, or learning difficulty.

The Disabled Students’ Allowance (DSA) is designed to make your journey easier by providing tailored support and funding.

In this post, I’ll guide you step by step through how to apply for DSA as a student nurse, what’s included, and how it can help you succeed in your studies.

See Also:
Student cost of Living Help

Apply for DSA as a Student Nurse | Shift Happens with Sian

It is important that you know what you are entitled to and what is available to you in order to access funding early if you need it. I’ve looked into this process and have created a step-by-step guide to the disabled student’s allowance or ‘DSA’ to make it easier for nursing students to apply.

This guide will explain what to expect at each stage of the DSA process. But first:

Why DSA matters for Student Nurses

Working as a Nurse combines heavy academic workloads with unpredictable, high-pressure clinical placements. If you have dyslexia, ADHD, chronic pain, sensory impairments or mental-health challenges, you face extra hurdles in note-taking, rapid decision-making and intensive reading.

DSA equips you with:

Assistive Technology: Voice‐to‐text for clinical notes, mind-mapping software for care plans, and ergonomic keyboards for long typing sessions. Some modules are heavier than others for this.

Non-Medical Help: Specialist note-takers to capture your lecture content, proof-readers for your assignments, or study-skills mentors to refine your approach to academic studying.

Placement Support: Funding for taxis when mobility or public transport issues would otherwise limit your placement choices to ensure you get a full range of nursing placement exposure.

By removing these barriers, DSA lets you focus on mastering clinical skills, absorbing evidence-based practice, and delivering compassionate patient care, rather than struggling against those invisible hurdles. Being a Nurse is hard as it is without the pressure of worrying about funding for essential resources that will help you.

It is also useful to see if you are entitled to any other benefit or grants to help you through your nursing degree.

Check out my other guide: Student Cost of Living Help 

Let’s get to it! My step-by-step guide to applying for and receiving DSA as a nursing student:

Check your eligibility for DSA as a Student Nurse

Who qualifies? UK-home nursing students enrolled on a full or part-time undergraduate or postgraduate course.

What counts? Conditions that have a substantial and long-term adverse effect on your ability to study. This includes dyslexia, ADHD, mobility impairments, chronic fatigue, mental-health conditions, and sensory losses.
You can check eligibility criteria HERE at the Gov.uk website.

How to confirm: Speak to your university’s Disability or Student Support Service early and explain you would like to know more about DSA for nursing students. Many run pre-application clinics to advise on evidence requirements.
Your personal tutor can also help you with more information about DSA applications and how the university can help you.

You’ve spoken with the university and now you need to know how to apply for DSA as a nursing student.

Apply for Student Finance and trigger DSA

Standard application: Complete your Student Finance England/Northern Ireland/Wales form for tuition and maintenance loans. You can do this online HERE.

If you are struggling to understand the application, it really is worth dropping in to see the disability support service at the university. They are experts at these applications and can book you an appointment for one-on-one support applying.

DSA section: When asked about “additional needs,” indicate that you have a disability or specific learning difficulty to automatically receive the DSA entitlement letter.

Timeline tip: Submit before the academic‐year deadline (usually around May) to avoid delays with your support starting. Remember you can apply at any point in the year but this may mean you don’t have what you need in place straight away.

You’ve spoken with the university, applied via the student finance ensuring you’ve ticked the ‘DSA section’, what else do you need to do to get your DSA for nursing students funding?

Gather and Submit Medical Evidence

You may be asked to give proof of your disability and its impact on study to receive DSA as a student nurse. So be prepared and have your documents ready to send. This avoids any delays in your application being processed.

Acceptable documents: Diagnostic assessments or letters from an educational psychologist (for learning differences), consultant psychiatrist, GP or hospital specialist. The letter you receive in the post about your DSA application will list what documentation they require and how much of it they need. Sometimes one document is enough but often they want several.

Must include: Your evidence must include a clear statement of your condition. Such as; How your condition affects specific academic tasks like note‐taking, concentration, reading speed. Even mobility between campus and placement sites.

Pro tip: If your last assessment is older than three years, your university can often help fund an updated evaluation through its own disability support service.

So, you’ve gathered all the required evidence for DSA as a student nurse, now what?

Receive your entitlement letter

Once your initial evidence is approved, Student Finance will issue you an Entitlement Letter.

What it shows: Your letter will detail your annual DSA budget and the broad support categories you can access;

– Non Medical Help (note-taking, study skills mentoring)
– Specialist Equipment (software licenses, ergonomic aids)
– General costs (extra travel to placements, printing large-print materials)
– Typical Ranges: From about £6,000 (for light support needs) up to £25,000+ (for intensive equipment or human-support requirements). These are assessed on an individual basis and will differ depending on what you and the assessor agree you will need.

Next step: Read it carefully—this letter is your “green light” to book a needs assessment.

You’re nearly there, to continue the application process to get DSA as a nursing student you need to:

Book and attend a needs assessment

Choosing an assessor: Use the approved list in your entitlement letter. Many universities have preferred providers. Again, your university’s disability support service will be able to support you through this process.

Assessment format: A 2–3 hour, one-to-one session (in person or online) where you:

Describe your study and clinical placement challenges. (Your personal tutor or disability support service at the university may be able to provide a cover letter. This will list the types of challenges you may face as a student nurse to help the assessor in supporting you properly).

Trial equipment (e.g., voice-to-text software, ergonomic keyboards).

Discuss the type and number of support hours you’ll need (note-taking, mentoring, proof-reading).

Tip: Prepare by listing your daily study tasks and any past coping strategies that worked (e.g., mind-maps, coloured overlays). They will be interested in what works for you now and what you think will work for you when you’re studying as a student nurse.

Just a small wait to receive DSA funding for your nursing degree. Next, you’ll get your needs assessment report:

Review your needs assessment report

Content: You’ll receive a full report detailing recommendations for equipment, software licences, and non-medical support, plus the cost breakdowns.

Your action: Prioritise which items you need immediately (e.g., screen-reading software before placements) versus what can wait until term-time. You can work with your university’s disability support service or module leads to help you make these decisions. For example, they will know if you will need to access online content before your course starts. So getting this in place will be a priority.

Budget check: Ensure your selections fit within your entitlement. Your assessor will help you balance costs. If you feel an essential item was missed, you have the opportunity to discuss additional needs with your assessor before that final sign‐off.

Commission your support

Approval process: Your signed off report will then be submitted to Student Finance, who will then authorise each item or service.

Ordering equipment: You can usually choose your own suppliers (within reason and funding limits) or use the assessor’s recommendations.

Booking helpers: It’s important that you, with the help of your disability support service at the university, arrange for any note-takers, library assistants, or specialist mentors to be booked well in advance of peak periods such as exam deadlines.

Receive and implement your support

Equipment setup: Schedule time (ideally before your first clinical placement) to install software and get that all important training needed to use new devices. This will make it a little less stressful on your first official day as a student nurse.

Helper induction: Introduce your non‐medical helpers to your course outline, module objectives and clinical requirements so that they can provide timely, relevant support tailored to helping you get the best out of your nursing degree.

Ongoing training: Many providers offer refresher sessions so take these up to maximise your investment. Theres always an updated version of software or new techniques to use equipment that you may benefit from knowing.

You’ve got your DSA as a nursing student now but is there anything else I need to do?

Monitor and review throughout the year

Record-keeping: Keep timesheets, invoices, and service logs—your university or Student Finance may audit these so keep them in a digital or physical folder ready for when they are needed.

Mid-year check: Many institutions schedule a six-month review meeting with your disability advisor and assessor to tweak support now you’ve been on the course long enough to know what’s working and what extra help you could benefit from.

What should you do if you feel that you need more or less support? Or your needs change for whatever reason part way through your study as a student nurse:

Plan for re-assessment if needed

Changing needs: If your condition progresses or new challenges arise (e.g., increased placement hours), you can request a fresh needs assessment. Your personal tutor and disability support service can help you with this new DSA assessment process.

Fresh evidence: You will need to provide up-to-date medical or educational diagnostics to justify additional support you are asking for.

Continuous access: As long as you remain eligible and enrolled in the nursing course, DSA can follow you through all years of your programme. This will make your journey as a student nurse a little easier, so you have the same opportunity to thrive as other student nurses without DSA requirements.

I hope you use this step-by-step guide to Disabled Student Allowance (DSA) for student nurses to get the support that you need. Making your student nurse experience the best it can be with extra support to see you through the long shifts, crammed study timetable and physical demands of becoming the nurse you were destined to be.

Don’t forget to see what other support you can access in this helpful guide: Help with the cost of living as a student (with a step-by-step guide to apply) 