Disabled students in Scottish and English higher education can apply for the disabled students' allowance (DSA). This pays for equipment, such as computers, specialist software and tape recorders and the employment of support workers, such as personal assistants, sign language interpreters and note-takers. This paper discusses the pros and cons of this model of individual support for disabled students. For example, becoming an employer raises additional challenges and issues for students, which are exacerbated by inefficiencies and delays in the system of payments. Some students are provided with equipment that they do not use, while others need more funding than the available allowances. Furthermore, in some cases students are being provided with individual support to get round institutional obstacles that ideally should be removed. Drawing on analysis of official statistics and over 50 case studies of students in eight higher education institutions, four in Scotland and four in England, carried out as part of the Economic and Social Research Council-funded study Disabled Students and Multiple Policy Innovations in Higher Education, this paper discusses the tensions between support for individual students and measures aimed at change at the institutional level. It argues that both are needed, but that there is a risk that the balance will remain too far towards individual support if this is found to provide a functional solution. In the UK, this creates a 'welfare' model of support for disabled students, in which they are provided with 'extra' individual support to access an otherwise inaccessible 'mainstream' system, which remains largely unchanged. The findings are discussed in the context of recent legislative changes in the UK, which make it unlawful for higher education institutions to discriminate against students on the grounds of disability, and policy initiatives which have meant a massive overall expansion in the number of undergraduate students in higher education, plus pressures on institutions to become more efficient and competitive, while at the same time widening access to under-represented groups. References Riddell, S, Wilson, A and Tinklin, T (2002) Disability and the Wider Access Agenda: Supporting Disabled Students in Different Institutional Contexts, Journal of Widening Participation and Lifelong Learning. Tinklin, T, Riddell, S and Wilson, A (2002) Disabled students and multiple policy innovations in higher education: Report of the questionnaire survey of institutions, (http://www.ed.ac.uk/ces/Disability/publications.htm).