Background
In recognition of the additional support costs incurred by disabled students in pursuing their course of study, a bursary fund has been set up to help offset these additional costs.
The Disabled Students' Bursary Fund considers applications for grants towards services or equipment required by students at the University of Cambridge, where this supports their academic study directly.
The primary focus of the fund is to give one-off grants to students who are faced with additional costs that they are unable to fund through other channels, for example, the Disabled Students' Allowances.
Terms
- The Guardians of the fund consider applications on a rolling basis. Whilst there is no deadline for applications, we encourage students to apply as early as possible.
- Guardians will only consider applications from students of the University of Cambridge, with a diagnosed disability, whether that be physical or sensory impairments, learning difficulties (including specific learning difficulties, such as dyslexia), mental health problems or long-term illnesses, such as ME*.
- The ADRC will aim to acknowledge receipt of your application within 10 working days. Applications will be reviewed by the ADRC Manager and passed to the fund Guardians for assessment.
- Applicants will be notified of the result of their application by the ADRC, within two weeks of the decision being made, via their disability adviser. The Guardians reserve the right not to meet each monetary request in full. No correspondence about the decision may be entered into.
- Successful applicants will receive an award email, which will contain information detailing the next steps in the process to either obtain the items or support in their award or to make a claim for reimbursement for costs they have incurred.
- Successful applicants must provide the ADRC with copies of receipts for all purchases bought or part-bought with their award, within 8 weeks of receiving the award (the ADRC requires the receipts for auditing purposes). Applicants who do not provide the ADRC with receipts will be expected to reimburse to the fund the amount unaccounted for.
- Repayment of the award may be claimed by the ADRC, on behalf of the Fund, if it has not been used for the purpose specified.
- As a condition of the award, you must supply the Trustees with a written report of how the award has supported your academic study. These reports must be submitted by the end of June in the academic year you receive the award. A copy of the report form is provided below:
Notes
- Please send your completed application marked for the attention of your Disability Adviser to The Accessibility and Disability Resource Centre, Student Services Centre, Bene't Street, Cambridge, CB2 3PT or email it to disability@admin.cam.ac.uk
- Supporting evidence should contain confirmation of your course and year of study, the nature of your disability, and support for your application for this specific request.
- Please be as specific as possible as to your reasons for applying to the fund, to allow the fullest consideration of your application.
- Please supply a quotation/evidence of costs for the specific help sought, together with details of suppliers. You may be asked to provide evidence that you have taken advice from the ADRC/the supplier on which equipment/service will best suit your requirements and then researched the best value option available.
- Information about other sources of funding approached will assist the fund guardians in allocating funds appropriately.
- Your student disability adviser will be able to provide help with your application. Please contact the ADRC for further information.
*The Equality Act (2010) defines a 'disabled person' as, 'someone who has a physical or mental impairment that has a substantial and long-term (over 12 months) adverse effect on his or her ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities.'