The Student Room Group

Mac on NHS finance

Hi! This is my first post so please be nice to me! I've seen a few heated discussions on this topic so please keep it amicable 😊I am a disabled student due to start Child Nursing at Leeds Uni next Monday. I applied for DSA as my physical disability means I need certain equipment. My assessment was last week and I came away feeling very unsure about it. The assessor was almost TOO keen to give me things I didn't even want, as though she was in it for commission or something haha (I will not be accepting the equipment she put down as I don't think it's fair that the NHS foot the bill).

Anyway, I require a lightweight laptop and have used Apple all my life so would like to have a Mac for uni. As my course doesn't require them, I have to pay extra, something which I am fully prepared to do. The assessor said I HAD to use their supplier but I've heard they charge over and above what I can get it for on Apple Education. I have seen that SFE sometimes allow the student to buy equipment and then claim back the money but unsure if NHSBSA do this?Given that I will be putting more money in than the DSA for this laptop, I don't think it's fair I have to use their suppliers.Has anyone else got experience with this?

Ps, I don't need the "there are lightweight PC's better than Mac telling off" 😉 I have thought this through and if it means me paying a lot for it, I don't mind)
Hi, I had a talk with my assessor about buying a laptop via a different supplier because I explained that the suppliers are selling the laptops for anywhere between 10-40% higher than other stores online. The laptop upgrade I was offered for an i7 gaming laptop was £1800 even though the same laptop was brand new for £1000 on Overclockers, who already sell it higher than Amazon/scan at £920~.

I explained that the default WKH-15 laptop was too slow for my needs and if I could use my awarded money for a laptop via an online store and I was promptly told that I'd have to use a dsa-qag recommended supplier ONLY. There is a reason they use these suppliers and that's because they earn a percentage of the money back when they make a "sale" to a DSA student. Lets just say, the basic laptop they give out retails for £270 on ANY UK online store but from these suppliers they usually cost around £500.

Anyway, there are a few suppliers where the Mac prices aren't too bad, for example on HERE, an approved supplier from dsa-qag, you can get a Macbook Pro 13" for £895 and they're actually £899 from Apple/John Lewis, etc, maybe you can talk to DSA and ask if you can change it to a different supplier that is approved from them, they should easily be able to do that.

TLDR; You have to use an approved dsa-qag supplier and in most cases, the awarded money you receive from DSA will mean nothing because you can usually buy laptops/macs/desktops for 10-40% cheaper elsewhere.
(edited 8 years ago)

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