What reasonable adjustments can I get at university for ADHD?

The adjustments themselves

Reasonable adjustments for ADHD can include extra exam time, a separate room, deadline flexibility and lecture recordings, plus DSA-funded mentors, study-skills tutors and assistive software (up to £27,783 in 2025/26). The catch the top results miss is that these come from two separate systems, and you can use both at once.

System one: the university's own duty

Your university has a legal duty to make reasonable adjustments for disabled students under the Equality Act 2010 (sections 20 and 91). ADHD that has a substantial, long-term effect on day-to-day study counts as a disability for this purpose, so the duty applies to you. This is the university's own responsibility and it costs you nothing.

• Exam access: extra time, a separate or smaller room, rest breaks, or a reader or scribe.
• Deadline flexibility: short extensions on coursework, or a standing arrangement so you do not have to ask each time.
• Alternative assessment: a different format where a standard exam puts you at a substantial disadvantage.
• Lecture capture: recordings or slides in advance, so you can review what you missed.
• A referral and a plan: the disability team can set up a learning support plan that tells your tutors what to do.

Two points the search results usually blur. The duty is anticipatory: the university has to plan adjustments in advance, not only react once you are struggling. And it can apply even without a formal diagnosis: if the university knows, or ought reasonably to know, that you are disabled, the duty bites (the EHRC set this out clearly after the Abrahart case). So you do not need to be waiting on an ADHD assessment to ask for support.

System two: DSA funding

Disabled Students' Allowance (DSA) is grant funding from Student Finance England for the extra costs your ADHD adds to studying. It is non-repayable, not means-tested, and worth up to £27,783 for the 2025/26 year (the same ceiling applies to 2026/27). It pays for individual support the university itself would not provide.

• A specialist mentor: one-to-one help with motivation, organisation and the executive-function side of study.
• A study-skills tutor: structured help with planning, note-taking and managing a workload.
• Assistive technology: a computer where needed, plus software such as text-to-speech, mind-mapping and reference tools.
• Other non-medical helper support agreed at your needs assessment.

Here the diagnosis rule flips. DSA does need evidence of your condition: a diagnostic assessment or a letter from a doctor or consultant confirming ADHD. What you actually receive is decided at a study needs assessment based on your needs, not on the headline maximum. See whether you are eligible for DSA with ADHD and what DSA is.

Why the split matters

Because the two systems have different rules, you should start both. If you had an EHCP at school it does not carry into university: degree-level study sits outside that framework, so DSA and Equality Act adjustments are what replace it. Register with the disability team now for the adjustments that need no diagnosis, and apply for DSA in parallel if you have, or can get, the evidence.

This page is general information, not clinical or legal advice.