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Higher education

Talk to other parents whose children are preparing for university on our Higher Education forum.

Anyone with experience of applying for DSA at Oxford?

18 replies

horsemadmom · 29/01/2020 09:27

Hi! If DD2 gets her grades, she'll be off to Oxford (hurrah) but we now have to start the process of applying for Disabled Student Allowance and PIP. She has a chronic pain condition which means that she walks with crutches. College has been lovely through the whole process and have promised adaptations and help no matter what stage of the bureaucracy we're in come October but.....Can anyone give me a timeline? Advice? We've never dealt with student finance before and I just don't want this to be yet another stressful thing for DD2.

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HugoSpritz · 29/01/2020 14:31

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Ironoaks · 29/01/2020 15:18

No experience of Oxford, but hoping I can join the thread anyway.

DS will be applying for DSA. His firm choice of offer is from Cambridge.

He has ASD so finds it helpful to break things down into steps. This is what he has so far:

Apply via SFE.
Ask Dr for medical evidence.
Email medical evidence to SFE.
Await confirmation of eligibility.
Make appt for needs assessment.
Await report & approval from SFE.
Contact disability services at university.

Oratory1 · 29/01/2020 15:58

Spot on Ironoaks. But most unis will guide you through this process.

DS has already had a detailed email from his firm (Birmingham) advising him what to do and when to do it. You can’t apply for DSA through SFE til March but he has registererd with disability services at the uni now to get him in their system

Ironoaks · 29/01/2020 17:29

Last week DS looked at the university's Disability Resources Centre website and completed an online form about what adjustments he might need. I don't think there's anything else to do until student finance applications open.

zxcv123 · 29/01/2020 19:00

DS is at Oxford and gets DSA.

The others have outlined the application process for you beautifully. What I would add is that when your DD attends her needs assessment (which DS scheduled in the summer holidays before starting at Oxford) it would be worth her preparing as detailed a list as possible of adjustments she thinks she might need, to take to the meeting to discuss.

The report produced by the assessor will be valid for the entire course - so think ahead. For example, she might want to say she needs ground-floor accommodation in college for the duration (not just the first year) and help with transport if her lectures etc are too far away.

I found that, because various different bodies are involved, it is rather a lengthy process, so the sooner you get the ball rolling the better, especially if specialist staff will need to be recruited to assist.

DS's college has been exceptionally helpful so far and has bent over backwards to accommodate. Smile.

horsemadmom · 30/01/2020 10:47

Thanks for all the really helpful replies! DD2's College have been in touch and they will walk (ha!) her through the process. Any pitfalls to avoid? We've never done Student Finance but it seems that this is the most joined up way of doing things. DD2's physical condition is very rare and we've encountered headscratching from bureaucracy all the way through- the number of times I've had to get people in authority to google it makes me want to scream. She is making a list of her needs. It's quite long.

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NoHaudinMaWheest · 30/01/2020 12:17

It is good that her college have been in touch as you need to get university disability services and accommodation both on board as well as the DSA stuff.
It is worth contacting disability services and accommodation at her insurance choice too. On the whole universities would rather be forewarned even if she doesn't go there in the end.

I would also say try to get the needs assessment done as soon as possible as it can take time to get everything organised and you want everything in place before term begins.

My dd is in 2nd year (though not at Oxford). She has complex needs including chronic pain and mobility problems.
Here is a list of some of the equipment and adjustments she has which I hope will be useful at least to give your dd an idea of what is available.

Through DSA:

An ergonomic chair and footstool for studying in her room.

Ergonomic equipment for using her computer (wrist rest, hand rest for using the mouse, adapted mouse, adjustable stand for the screen)

Recording device so that she can record lectures and doesn't have to write.

A printer and allowance for ink and paper so that she can print stuff off easily and doesn't have to trek to the library.

A few hours at the beginning of each term with someone to help her work out access and best routes to lectures, tutorials, library etc.

She has a mentor whom she sees once a week and, although she mainly has this because she also has an ASD, I feel it would be very useful support for any student with additional challenges.

She could also have had but in her circumstances didn't actually need:

Taxi transport from halls to the academic central area.
A suitable bag to carry her equipment and books.

From the university itself:

Exams arrangements - small room, extra time, rest breaks, ability to take food into the exam (as with extra time and rest breaks the exams can get quite long).

Automatic grant of extension for course work if she requests it with no penalty.

She is supposed to get early notification of reading lists but that depends on individual lecturers and can be a bit patchy.

Accommodation:

She has an adapted room with adapted ensuite. She is a wheelchair user though she can walk a little indoors with crutches/sticks. Having the adaptions in the room and particularly in the bathroom has helped a great deal.

Her halls are unusual in having a weekly cleaning service and supplying and laundering bed linen. In addition they actually change her bed for her and empty her bin (most students are expected to do that themselves). What cleaning etc services each accommodation service supplies varies greatly so it is worth finding out what they normally supply and if they can do anything extra.

She is in catered halls as she couldn't manage cooking for herself. She has assistance in the canteen from the canteen staff to manage the self-service. This works really well. In addition the pantry for her room is adapted to some extent (lowered worksurface and sink). It isn't ideal though so another thing worth checking out.

There was a lot of problems with access to the laundry initially but eventually the halls worked out a good solution -again something worth checking out.

She is able to stay in halls as long as she needs too. In fact she has had the same room both years.

Sorry for the long speil. If there is anything else I can help with please get in touch.

horsemadmom · 30/01/2020 16:25

That's brilliant! Thank you so much!

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Kuponut · 31/01/2020 17:21

DSA is honestly the least painful experience of dealing with Student Finance I've ever had - the only painful part was the hold time on phone when I needed to ring them to ask them to send me a second copy of some paperwork (which they did in under 10 minutes when I finally got through).

The lady who did my needs assessment was incredibly helpful, everything through according to timescales and my equipment was in place pretty quickly too - in my case just for dyslexia. I think exam arrangements were in place within 10 minutes of my ed psych report hitting the university email servers to be honest.

Carriemac · 31/01/2020 17:38

My DD has found oxford very poor for disability services for her dyspraxia, so bad I though she was going to drop out this year.

horsemadmom · 02/02/2020 18:07

I'm so sorry @Carriemac . Were the problems College specific? I can see DD1's College being awful (it was pretty Darwinian ) but DD2's offer is from the one that the Uni is using as a model of best practice. They are starting to line up her support right away. What went wrong for your DD?

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Carriemac · 02/02/2020 18:16

She was diagnosed late in second year ( to be fair a tutor did spot it ) . There seems to be be poor contact between the disability service and the college ( it’s a very very old one) and she is expected to sort out the exam arrangements herself' and part of her dyspraxia means she’s is disorganised. After her last collections, first time using a laptop which she really struggled with, her results were so bad and her tutor made her cry in public. Gave her a dressing down about not making an effort. She gets good marks in her essays, and holds her own in tûtes works really hard for exams and then is mortified when she is accused of not making an effort. She has never got to the end of an exam in college and is miserable to be honest. And she is clever, aced her entrance tests.

goodbyestranger · 02/02/2020 18:39

Carriemac if the laptop is even more difficult than writing, then I wonder if your DD is aware that the authors of illegible scripts at Oxford are notified and can pay for them to be transcribed? DD1 paid £60 for her final final law paper (went along and read out what she'd written). Suddenly having to type in exam conditions can be far worse than writing even if the latter is a struggle.

horsemadmom · 02/02/2020 20:51

DD2 hates the exam laptops at school. Do they allow students to use their own for collections/exams? DD2 just needs extra time because she writes slowly and rest breaks.

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Bakedpotatoandgin · 03/02/2020 18:46

Carriemac that sounds horrible for your dd, that tutor is awful!
As a balance, I'm currently going through the process of a dyspraxia assessment at Oxford, and so far everyone has been really helpful and supportive, my director of studies (a tutor) encouraged me to ask for the assessment and the disability advisor at my college pointed me in the right direction. Sadly, I suspect that as with so many things here, the degree of support and the understanding obnoxiousness of tutors depends a lot on the college.

Carriemac · 05/02/2020 15:41

Bakedpotatoandgin thats true i think - DD is not very assertive and her main tutor not really supportive

BasiliskStare · 05/02/2020 16:38

@Horsemadmom My only advice is ring admissions at college or university ( Oxford ) and get some advice - they are helpful - DS is dyslexic and they were incredibly helpful. Not the same problem as yours but they were very very helpful re DSA - main thing is to tick the box re disability ( as I recall - Ds now graduated so may be out of date but that was step one )

horsemadmom · 05/02/2020 16:47

We're on it! Just always worried about what could go wrong.....long, bitter experience.

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