If your disability means that you need to print things out, including library electronic resources, you may be eligible for funding to cover printing costs. Apart from in a few exceptional circumstances this will come from Disabled Students Allowance (DSA) (Home students) or the International Disabled Students Fund (International students). Home students will receive a notification letter from DSA containing the amount they have been awarded (typically £200 per academic year for printing, which covers ink and paper for their printer and photocopying and printing costs). Find out more about funding from the Accessibility and Disability Resource Centre (ADRC).

The Libraries Accessibility Service does not standardly print out material for students. However, we can provide fully printable files through our Alternate Formats Service so that you can use your funding to produce paper copies for your own personal use. In some circumstances we may be able to do some printing for you.

You may decide to use University printers and claim the cost back. Most printers in the University (including many colleges) use the University's Managed Print Service. 

If the department or College uses the Common Balance, you pay up front for printing using credits. You can sign in to the Managed Print Portal to access your Transaction History and download evidence of what you have spent (NB if you can only see the last few transactions you might need to switch filters off).

At those institutions using the Local Balance, arrangements for payment will vary. Some will be similar to the description above for Common Balance institutions, with transactions visible in your Transaction History on the Managed Print Portal. Otherwise you may receive a weekly/monthly/termly bill for any printing done within that period, in which case your local account statements can be used as evidence of what you have spent on printing.

Some parts of the university may provide paper receipts of print spend. You should take a clear photo or scan these receipts.

Home students

Either:

• Log in to your Student Finance account and go to the DSA section
• Upload your receipts

Or:

• Email receipts to dsa_team@slc.co.uk or
• Post to: Student Finance England, PO Box 210, Darlington DL1 9HJ

The money will be paid to your bank account once the claim has been processed.

International students

Once you have received an award from the International Disabled Students Fund, you will be told to submit copies of your receipts to disability.finance@admin.cam.ac.uk. You can also drop them in to the ADRC in the Student Services Centre.

The Cambridge University Libraries and Archives' online recommendation form for new books and other resources includes a space to state any accessibility needs. You can use this space to ask for your preferred format (physical or electronic). Your preference will be weighed alongside other factors such as availability and potential wider usage. If we cannot buy a physical format, and you need one for accessibility reasons, we will refer you to the Libraries Accessibility Service to explore alternatives.

The online recommendation form is only for requesting material that is not yet available in any format. For alternate formats of existing resources email disability@lib.cam.ac.uk.

This page last updated 28 November 2025