Digital Support Fund

The Digital Support Fund will reopen 4th November 2024.

About the Digital Support Fund

The Digital Support Fund is a support fund to help students with the associated costs of online learning and study.

There are limited grants of £400 per student, designed to provide financial support towards internet connectivity, specialist software as well as IT related study equipment costs. The £400 can be used as a contribution to buying a laptop and peripherals (mouse, keyboard, extra monitor, router, dongle etc.) or for paying broadband bills.

This digital support fund is designed to provide financial support for applicants who live in areas of the United Kingdom with high levels of deprivation and low participation in Higher Education and whose assessed taxable household income is below £27,000.

Who can apply?

To apply for the Digital Support Fund, you must:

• Be a first year or a returning student on any undergraduate course; and

• Be a permanent resident of the UK; and

• Have a home address recorded on your RISIS student record that falls within an area of low participation of young people progressing into higher education (POLAR4 or TUNDRA quintile 1 or 2) or be considered to be from an area of general disadvantage according to the governments Indices of Multiple Deprivation quintile 1 or 2. Please check if your postcode meets the criteria; and

• Be assessed by your Student Finance Authority as eligible for financial support and have an assessed household taxable income of below £27,000.

Please note that students who have previously received a digital support fund award in any previous or current academic year are not eligible to apply to the Digital Support Fund in 2024/25.

How can I check my postcode?

Please use our self-service tool to check if your postcode meets the criteria.

How can I apply for the Digital Support Fund?

Please note applications are now closed and will reopen on 4th November 2024.

Please make sure that you read the Guidance notes before you submit your application to the Digital Support Fund. When applications open on 4th November 2024, you can apply via the RISIS portal. Go to the “Actions” menu and then click on “Financial Support”. From this page you will be able to read the guidance notes and click on the link “Begin/Continue application for financial support or bursary”. When you have completed your online application, you will get an acknowledgment email sent to you.

If you get stuck with finding the application on the RISIS Web Portal then do take a look at the screen shots of the process.

What is the deadline to apply to the Digital Support Fund?

Applications will close at 1pm on 28th March 2025 or once the fund is exhausted, whichever is sooner.

What if I am not eligible for the Digital Support Fund?

If you are having financial difficulties and you now unexpectedly need to purchase new IT related equipment, please look at our Student Support Fund, which may be able to support you.

The Student Financial Support team also have a small number of laptops that can be loaned to students for the semester, if this is of interest then please contact the team on studentfunding@reading.ac.uk