Advice for students

Here are the answers to some common questions that we hear.

1. How can I prepare for university?
   The most important thing you can do is get in touch with us as soon as possible so that we can discuss your support needs. You should also apply for the Disabled Students’ Allowances as soon as possible. We recommend visiting the campus more than once before the start of term so that you can familiarise yourself with the environment and find your way around.

2. What are the Disabled Students’ Allowances and how could they help me?
   DSAs help pay towards extra costs you may have when studying on your course as a direct result of your autism spectrum condition. This might include paying for one-to-one mentoring support or study support, note-taking support or IT equipment. These are just a few examples of what it might pay for. Applications are made to your student funding authority e.g. Student Finance England, Student Finance Wales, Student Finance NI, the Student Awards Agency for Scotland. If you said on your main student finance application that you would like to apply for the DSAs, your student funding authority should send you out a DSA application form automatically. Otherwise, forms are downloadable from the DSAs section of the Government website.

3. How do I arrange my support?
   After you have applied for the Disabled Students’ Allowances, your student funding authority will write to you to invite you to attend a needs assessment. The person assessing your needs will work with you to decide what support you will find most helpful and write this in a report. Once you and the student funding authority have said that you agree with what the report says, you will be sent detailed instructions on how to arrange your support. NTU will also receive instructions telling us what we need to put in place for you. Find out more about needs assessment.

4. Should I be worried about living in shared accommodation?
   Sharing accommodation is very much part of the student experience, but it is not without its challenges. We advise you to think very carefully and talk to us and / or your parents before making a decision about where you will live during your studies. Sharing a kitchen and living area means that you will be sharing a space with people who may think very differently to you about how and where to store food, how often to wash up, how tidy a room should be, how early or late to play loud music and how many visitors to have. If you would find this difficult, we can advise you about other options that you may find preferable.

5. What should I do if I have any problems?
   Please tell one of the Autism Support Team and we will do our best to help you. That is what we are here for, and no worry is too big or too small.

6. It did not say on the UCAS form that I have an Autism Spectrum Condition, so the Autism Support Team does not know about me and therefore I have no support.
   It is never too late to get in touch with us to tell us about your support needs. If you feel you would benefit from additional support – or if you aren't sure whether you need support or not - please get in touch with us as soon as possible. You can apply for DSAs at any time during your programme of study, but the application process takes quite a long time so you should send your application as soon as possible. We can help you with this, so just get in touch.