Navigating Admissions and Access for Students With Disabilities
What to disclose, how to get support, and how college differs from high school
A preface: It feels a little challenging to write about some topics in higher education at the moment1, given that it feels like there is far more uncertainty than usual about how things like protections for students with disabilities may be enforced under the Trump administration. Please consider this as my best advice based on current laws and practices, which may be subject to change if the attacks on anything related to DEI continue.
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In many ways, the story of higher education in the last half century has been one of expanded access for historically excluded populations2. In addition to increasing enrollment for non-white students, female identified students, and lower income students, we have seen steady increases in the number of students with disabilities pursing post-secondary education. In the last two decades alone, the number of students who identify as having a disability has doubled, peaking at 21% of all college students in 2020.
A quick note: I’ll use the broad term “disability” in this piece to refer to students who have physical, emotional/behavioral, and/or developmental disabilities for which they may seek support or reasonable accommodations as they pursue a standard degree pathway. This advice may not apply as well for students who have an intellectual disability for which they are pursuing a modified degree program or a supportive transition program.
Parents and students with disabilities and often have questions about how to this might impact their college search experience and what kinds of supports might be available to them once they get to college, so let’s get into it!
Navigating the Admissions Process as a Student With a Disability
One of the central questions for many students with disabilities is whether or not to disclose their disability status during the college admissions process. Under current laws, students are not required to disclose and colleges and universities may not use a student’s disabled status against them when making an admissions decision.
One small caveat to that: a school may deny a student admission into a specific academic program if the nature of the student’s disability means that they would not be able to complete the program because the disability cannot be reasonably accommodated. For example, a student with a significant physical disability could be denied admission into a program like electrical lineworker (which requires a student to be able to safely climb a power pole) or a student who is blind may be denied admission into a nursing program because many of the essential functions taught in nursing classes require vision. These cases are rare, but do happen.
Without a student’s disclosure, a college or university may not know that they have a disability, unless it is something revealed in a letter of recommendation (it might be worth talking to your letter writer about this if you don’t wish for them to disclose it). or it is somehow noted on their high school transcript. This is not common but could happen if a student was in an adaptive PE class or some other course that was labelled in such a way that it indicated academic modifications, for example. This is fairly uncommon and, again, is not something that may legally be held against a student in the admissions process.
Colleges will NOT know if a student received accommodations like extended test time on the SAT or ACT test.
Why You Might Disclose
Given that prospective students are not required to disclose their disability status, it’s worth mentioning why some students do and when it might actually increase your chances to share your status.
For some students, writing about their experience of life with a disability feels like an obvious choice for the their admissions essay. It can be a central part of their identity and it can feel like a good place to start for Common App questions 1&2, which are fairly popular prompts:
Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.
The lessons we take from obstacles we encounter can be fundamental to later success. Recount a time when you faced a challenge, setback, or failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience?
For other students, disclosing their disability (either in their admissions essay or an optional letter to accompany their application) can be helpful if it might clarify something about their academic record. I’ve seen that be helpful in a number of circumstances, including:
A student had notably lower grades in one year than all of the rest, due to a prolonged hospitalization associated with their disability. Giving some additional context helped the admissions team recognize that those grades were not reflective of the student’s ability.
A student who was diagnosed with ADHD as a 10th grader and medicated for the first time saw their grades improve noticeably, so they disclosed to explain why there was a dramatic upward grade trend and to make the argument that they’d continue to improve academically as they learned more about managing their disability.
A student who is straight A’s in everything… except math. They explained their diagnosis with dyscalculia and why those B/B- grades in math were actually the result of the hardest work they’d done in high school (and why they were likely going to pursue a non-math intensive major in college)
Some students may also disclose their disability status if one of the reasons they are particularly drawn to the college or university they are applying to is because they have a particularly strong program to support students with disabilities. When I worked at The University of Arizona, for example, knowing that a student with a learning disability was planning to enroll in our SALT Center told me that they’d done some research and were planning on accessing extra support to be successful, which was always something I was glad to see as an admissions counselor.
The bottom line, however, is still that it is up to the student whether or not to disclose in the admissions process. Either way, once they are admitted, they can begin the process of seeking academic and/or residential accommodations.
On Campus Support: Welcome to the World of “Reasonable Accommodations”
Once a student has been admitted and chosen their college, they’ll want to decide if they wish to request accommodations for their disability. It’s important to note that the student must be proactive to begin this process. There is no automatic “roll over” of their IEP or 504 plan from high school and it can take several weeks (sometimes longer) to get go through the accommodations process, so students will want to begin the process well before the semester begins.
For most students, the process will begin by finding information about the disability resources (or sometimes called accessibility resources or services) department on the college’s website. Generally the college will provide information about how to register for services and to set up an initial screening appointment with one of their staff members. Students will likely be asked to submit documentation of their disability and the way that it impacts them in an academic environment. Types of documentation can include:
Psycho-educational evaluation
Neuropsychological assessment
Individualized Educational Plan (IEP)
504 Plan
Vocational assessment
Information on previous use of accommodations
Statement from health or other service professional
Mobility assessment
Once the student has been registered and submitted any required intake forms and documentation, the student and disability services staff will connect to determine what “reasonable accommodations” might look like for the next semester. Students will generally need to request accommodations each semester and it will generally be an interactive process where they and the college staff assigned to them will meet to discuss their next semester’s classes, what accommodations seem to be working well, and what makes the most sense for the types of classes they’ll be taking the next time around.
Please note that the college is not required to include parents in this process and can’t communicate about the student’s accommodations without a student’s written consent to do so. The student may opt to include their parents in the meeting if they chose to.
Reasonable accommodations are modifications or adjustments to the tasks, environment or some process that enable a student to have an equal opportunity to participate in an academic program. The types of accommodations a student gets might look different from what they had in high school and may vary from class to class, depending on the nature of the disability and the delivery method of the course. The reasonable accommodation may or may not be the students preferred accommodation, depending on the nature of the disability and the courses they are taking. Common disability accommodations include things like extended test time, the ability to record a class lecture or get assistance with course notes, large print textbooks, screen readers, or the use of a sign language interpreter. Less common accommodations may include flexibility with due dates and class attendance policies.
Accommodations will generally NOT include a reduction in the number of assignments/tests required for the class, alterations to grading rubrics or grading standards, or modifications of course content.
It is generally very, very difficult to get an academic program’s degree requirements changed as an accommodation, so students with dyscalculia, for example, should still assume they’ll have to take the required math class for their major.
Colleges and universities are not generally required to provide things that are deemed to be a “personal” support, so will not provide a personal care attendant or technology resources for the sole use of one student (for example, they may have screen readers available in the resource center for student use, but are unlikely to purchase a screen reader for the sole use of one student who wishes to keep it in their residence hall). Further, colleges can deny an accommodation if providing it would create an undue financial or administrative burden. This could include things like not making a historically protect building ADA compliant (though if the disabled student needed to attend a class in that building and couldn’t access the classroom, the school would likely move the class to an alternate location as a solution) or seeking a more affordable option than Brailling a textbook (Brailling a textbook is SUPER expensive, like $30-50 a page, so a fat biology book can run easily over $10,000), like finding an audio version or using a screen reader.
A note about cost: students should not be charged for requesting accommodations or for the accommodations put into place. Schools may charge for optional supplemental services like specialized tutoring or executive function coaches (more on that below). Students who qualify for single rooms as part of their accommodation will likely be charged the higher housing cost associated with single rooms, but it should still be the published single rate, not a higher cost for an accessible dorm room.
Campus Housing and Disabled Students
Speaking of housing, there are a few things to know about requesting accommodations related to rooms and meal plans:
Students wishing to request handicap accessible rooms should apply for housing as early as possible given that there may be a limited supply of handicap accessible rooms available and a school may or may not have the ability to convert additional rooms.
Students with disabilities that impact their bathroom use (e.g. Crohn’s disease or someone with a stoma) may be able to request a dorm room with an en suite bathroom rather than a communal bathroom, if available.
Students who are attending colleges with a mandatory on-campus living requirement may be able to request a waiver of that policy if there is not an appropriate space available for them on-campus (for example, if a student requires a live-in health aide or care giver). This is one to talk to the disability resources office about as early as possible.
Students with a learning, attention, or mental health disability may be able to request a single room as an accommodation but this may require additional documentation and may be subject to space availability.
Colleges and universities generally have “no animal” policies for campus housing but they are required to allow service animals and emotional support animals with appropriate documentation. Now here is where I’m going to be a little controversial: Residence halls are a really challenging environment for some animals. True service animals are highly trained and usually do fine. Emotional support animals, on the other hand, can be a really different story. While service animals may accompany a student pretty much anywhere on campus, emotional support animals are largely limited to the student’s room. They are not allowed to be in public spaces on campus, in class rooms, in dining halls, or to freely roam the communal areas within the residence hall. What this functionally means is that these animals will have to spend almost all of their time in a room that is likely to be around 200 square feet, possibly in a crate or cage for most of that time, depending on the type of animal and the comfort level of a student’s roommate with having the animal in the room. There have been some pretty terrible instances of students bringing puppies or other high energy animals to college as emotional support animals and ending up owing thousands of dollars in damages (a bored puppy is a destructive puppy) or forcing animals to live in conditions that are terrible for the animals mental health (a border collie in a dorm room is an unhappy dog). Students who require an emotional support animal should really consider what kind of animal will be best suited to life in a small room with limited mobility, and long stretches of time alone combined with almost constant noise from outside the room.
Some schools will require students to purchase a meal plan as part of living on campus. A student may be able to request to waive this requirement if the nature of their disability means that they cannot safely eat in a dining hall environment or if they have a medically limited diet. Again, the disability resources office can help navigate this if needed.
Higher Level Support Options
There are a number of colleges and universities that offer a higher level of support for students with learning and attention challenges, often on a fee-for-service model. These programs may be helpful for students who are looking for additional support and accountability as they transition from high school to college, as they may offer specialized tutoring or one-on-one sessions with a learning coach who can assist students with organization and time management skills. Programs like the SALT Center at the University of Arizona, LEP at the University of Denver, the Learning Support Program at Marist College, or the PALS program at Hofstra may be worth checking into to see examples of what these extra support programs can offer at a range of price points.
Note: these programs may require a separate application and may have limited spaces.
There are also a handful of schools, including Landmark College and Beacon College, which focus exclusively on serving students with learning disabilities and ADHD.
Finally, I should note that students who have disabilities related to mental health should be sure to explore what options a campus has for mental health supports. Some questions to consider include: what are options for med management and medication refills on or near campus, does the campus limit the number of sessions available at the counseling center, does the campus charge for counseling sessions, and are there support or affinity groups on campus for a student to join?
Students with disabilities can absolutely succeed in college but they must be prepared to be proactive when it comes to getting support and accommodations set up, so start the process early and don’t be afraid to ask for information prior to applying.
Standard disclaimer: The views and advice offered in this space reflect only me… no current, former, or future employers are responsible for anything I say here. Also, I’m not a lawyer, so nothing here should be considered legal advice. Also, never feed your mogwai after midnight, don’t taunt Happy Fun Ball, and always wear clean underwear in case you get hit by a car.
Though, as we have discussed here before, we still have a LONG way to go for truly equitable access, especially for highly selective institutions.