Heading into higher education with a disability means learning a new set of rules, because the support that worked in high school works very differently once you get to college or university. This guide explains how to get accommodations at a college or university, how the process differs from high school, and the kinds of accommodations students commonly receive. It is written for a student making the move and for a parent helping with the transition. The single most important thing to know up front: at this level, no one comes looking for you. You have to ask.
The Quick Answer
At a college or university, accommodations come from the school’s disability services office, and you have to request them yourself. The law that gave you an IEP in high school no longer applies once you graduate, so your old plan does not carry over. Instead, accommodations in higher education fall under civil rights laws, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act, that guarantee equal access rather than guaranteed success. The process is straightforward once you know the steps, and this guide walks through them and the accommodations students most often receive.
What’s Inside the Full Guide
- How accommodations in college or university differ from a high school IEP or 504 Plan
- The step-by-step process for requesting them
- What documentation you will likely need
- The accommodations students most commonly receive
- What these accommodations will not do
- Answers to the questions students and parents ask most