Upgrading your equipment

If you wish to upgrade some of your equipment e.g. upgrading your DSA provided laptop for a better spec machine or a MacBook, then you will need to pay the additional cost.

The upgrade process could look one of two ways…

Firstly to upgrade through your DSA supplier…

1. You need to have received your DSA entitlement letter which has your approved hardware and software supplier listed on it.
2. Call or email your supplier with your quote number (found on your DSA entitlement letter) and advise them of the equipment you wish to upgrade. They will come back you with the additional costs.
3. If you are happy with the price they have quoted then you will need to pay them directly for the additional cost that upgrading your equipment has incurred.  Your funding body will only cover the amount they agreed on your DSA entitlement letter.
4. You will receive your upgraded equipment with the rest of your DSA funded software and hardware and your upgraded equipment will be covered under the warranty and insurance provided with the rest of your equipment.

Alternatively if you wish to upgrade your equipment from a high street supplier then your upgrade process would look like this…

1. You need to have received your DSA entitlement letter which has your approved hardware and software supplier listed on it.
2. Call or email your supplier with your quote number (found on your DSA entitlement letter) and advise them of the equipment you wish to upgrade. They will come back you with the additional costs. If you aren’t happy with their costs and you have found it cheaper from another supplier then advise them of this.
3. Email [email protected] explaining that you wish to purchase higher spec equipment from a high street supplier.
4. Your needs assessor will send an email to your funding body explaining the situation.
5. Your funding body will send you an updated DSA entitlement letter confirming that you can go ahead and purchase the machine from the high street.
6. You will need to pay the full cost of the machine initially and then claim back costs from your funding body. They will only contribute the amount that they originally agreed and no more. You can claim money back by completing a claims form.
7. You will need to take our your own warranty and insurance on your upgraded equipment for the duration of your course, however you can also claim this back from your funding body.