Digital Hardship Fund 2027/2028

USW students who are starting an eligible full-time undergraduate or postgraduate course in the 2027/28 academic year and are based at a USW campus. The campuses are: 

• Pontypridd (Treforest and Glyntaff)
• Cardiff
• Newport
• Sport Park 

Cohorts that are ineligible: 

• Partner college students
• Pre-sessional English
• Part-time students
• Courses taught solely online
• Students continuing at USW on a top-up course (e.g. going from a foundation degree to a one-year top-up course)
• QA Higher Education students on a Pathway College course 

For September 2027 start students, the application form will be made available online within one month of their course start date.

Students starting their course in the Spring/Summer terms (i.e. January/February or March/April 2028) will be directly contacted to apply within a month of their course start date.

If you have not been contacted and believe that you are eligible, then please email [email protected].

Applicants are reminded that they are solely responsible for ensuring that their application form has been submitted correctly and cannot make changes to applications or resubmit, so please check your answers before submitting. 

The University reserves the right to request further evidence from applicants to verify their circumstances. 

No, not everyone who applies will be awarded support. Applications will be assessed against criteria to ensure that those most in need of equipment/financial help receive support.

If required, the university will request evidence from you to support your application, and you will have a week from the requesting date to provide this information. If all the information required is not provided within this time, your application will be automatically declined.

Decisions are expected to be available within one month of the closing date and will be sent to your university student email account.

Successful students will be awarded a voucher which is to be exchanged for a refurbished laptop with a 3x year warranty. The laptop spec is as follows:

Lenovo ThinkPad T480, i5 8th Gen 32GB and 256 SSD

Product - LENOVO ThinkPad T480
Condition - Grade A
Memory Size - 32GB
Hard Drive Capacity - 256GB NVMe
Operating System - Windows 11 Pro
Keyboard - UK Keyboard (QWERTY)
Processor - Intel Core i5 8250U
Graphics - Integrated/On-Board Graphics Intel HD Graphics
Colour - Black
Screen Size - 14.1" Widescreen FHD Display

Vouchers are limited and applications will be judged on a case-by-case basis.

The decision of the University is final, and no appeals will be considered.

If you are an international student and successful with your application, then you can be assured that receiving this support is not considered as ‘public funds’ and therefore will not impact on any future visa applications that you may make. If you have any queries, please email [email protected].

A new student is in their first year of study with USW and is starting on year 0 or year 1 of an eligible course.  

This would not include students: 

• Who are repeating their year of study
• Who have changed to a different course since studying with us last year 
• Who were in year 0 last year and are now on year 1. 

No, the scheme was previously available to all students in 2024/25 and is now only available to new students. 

No, students can make only one application per term.

No, students cannot make changes to their application after submitting. Applicants are reminded that they are solely responsible for ensuring that their application form has been submitted correctly, so please check your answers before submitting.

No - if you are studying at a Partner College, you should contact your college to see what support is available.

If you are experiencing IT issues accessing or submitting the application form, please take a screenshot of the issue that has occurred and email it to [email protected].

If you have any other queries about the scheme, please contact [email protected].

Please see options available to students: Disabled Students Allowances

Open Access suites: You can access computers in your campus library, check out the Disability teamStudent Support Fund to see when they're available. There are also open access computer labs all over campuses available for you to use.

Laptop Loans: contact your partner college - All our campus libraries now offer a self-service laptop collection service. The laptops are offered on a first-come, first-serve basis and can be borrowed for a 1-week loan period.

Competitive Rates: IT Services have secured rates for students who have the means and wish to purchase their own equipment from Stone Technologies. Equipment can be purchased through their website Refurbished Laptops and Desktop PCs | Stone Refurb using the following discount code: SRISW-Q22024 (10% discount, no minimum spend).

Disabled Student Allowance: UK Students with long-term health conditions, disabilities, mental health or specific learning difficulties (e.g. dyslexia) may be eligible to apply to their funding authority for Options for Students | University of South Wales to pay for disability specific study-related support services and equipment including a laptop. The library opening times can assist you with this.

Healthcare Students on NHS Bursary Registered Courses: A grant of £200 toward IT equipment may be available for those students who are Welsh domiciled and have a home address within a WIMD 1 and 2 decile areas. This grant is administered by the faculty automatically following enrolment. All home students will receive an email from the faculty in October stating whether they are or are not eligible. There is no appeal process - the only eligibility factor is your home address when you enrolled. Please refer to your course page for further information Courses - University of South Wales

Student Support Fund: The university has a  for home (UK) students studying at a USW campus.

International Student Support Fund: The university has an International Student Support Fund for international students studying at a USW campus.

If you are a USW student at a partner college, then please Laptop Loans | University of South Wales for advice and guidance.