1. TITLE:People with Disabilities and Postsecondary Education-Position paper September 15, 2003 http://www.ncd.gov/newsroom/publications/education.html
2. Author: Robert A. Stodden, Ph.D., for the National Council on Disability, (Katherine Cargill-Willis 1/8/04)
3. Preparation to Access Postsecondary Education: In the past twenty years there have been significant changes in the way students with disabilities are prepared for post-school success, including:
   • An increase in students with disabilities graduating from high school with a diploma from 51.7% in 1994 to 55.4% in 1998.
   • A significant increase in adults with disabilities who completed high school from 61% in 1986 to 78% in 2000.
   • A decrease in students with disabilities dropping out of high school from 35% in 1994 to 31% in 1998.

   The following data indicates a gap in efforts to provide appropriate and equal opportunity to this population.

   • Students with disabilities are less likely to complete a full curriculum, especially in math and science.
   • Youth with disabilities seldom attend or have any but the most token involvement in their IEP meetings nor have a post-school transition plan.

4. Performance in Postsecondary Education: Among the positive outcomes of various federal directives and initiatives, and increased awareness, are:
   • The percentage of college freshmen with a disability has increased from 3% in 1978 to over 9% in 1998.
   • One in eleven (or, 154,520) first-time, full-time freshmen entering college in 1998 self-reported a disability.
   • More than 50% of students with disabilities enrolling in postsecondary education persist toward a degree.
   • Nearly all-public postsecondary institutions enroll students with disabilities and most of them provide some level of services, supports, and/or accommodations.

   The ADA mandates that all postsecondary institutions "be required by law to provide any reasonable accommodation that may be necessary for those people with an identified disability to have equal access to the educational opportunities and services available to non-disabled peers, if requested," but the interpretation will likely cause differences in implementation. Recent research reports the following information:

   • Youth with disabilities are significantly less likely to start postsecondary education than their peers, 27% compared to 68%.
   • Of all students pursuing postsecondary education, students with disabilities are more likely to enroll in sub-baccalaureate programs.

5. Getting a Job after Postsecondary Education: The barriers within postsecondary education that obstruct the progress of students with disabilities bring about the following employment-related realities:
   • Only 49% of individuals with disabilities are employed versus 79% of individuals without disabilities.
   • The employment rates for individuals with cognitive impairments and significant disabilities are even lower.
   • With a Bachelor of Arts degree 67% of youth with disabilities were working full time compared with 73% for people without disabilities holding the same degree
   • Of those people with disabilities who are employed, less than one half of one percent are professionals; most work at low paying, non-professional jobs, not requiring a degree.
   • Of people with disabilities, 12.7 % of non-graduates own computers and 2.4% use the Internet; the college graduates are 46.5 %, with 30.2% using the Internet.

6. Issues for Postsecondary Students with Disabilities: High schools often focus on providing youth with disabilities with specialized services deficits; allowing them to leave school without advocacy skills or knowledge of the impact that their disability had on their education, reasonable accommodations, or Self-Determination. Over the past twenty years youth with disabilities have been taught these skills based on teacher interpretation of self-determination. But, these efforts should be based on providing real, authentic opportunities to make decisions and accept consequences. Moreover, many students were placed in special classrooms where they might have received substandard secondary curricular content, with low expectations. If success is obtaining a GED or high school diploma, then the learning process does not extend to preparing for college.
7. Issues in Transition to Postsecondary Education: Transition planning has not met the goals of IDEA and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act for several reasons including: transition planning that does not involve the students themselves, lack of resources and the failure of secondary and postsecondary schools to establish paths of communication. There is a shortage of qualified personnel; some 3000 more teachers are needed to teach special education in higher education. There is also a lack of awareness among educators and parents regarding the policy contrast between IDEA at the secondary level and ADA and Section 504 at the postsecondary level. Students may find that circumstances vary significantly from college to college, and from state to state.
8. Issues of Student Progress in Postsecondary Education: The passage of IDEA, the Rehabilitation Act in 1973 and the ADA are major factors that increased postsecondary education enrollment among students with disabilities over the past thirty years, but their retention rates have been very low. The Rehabilitation Act and the ADA state that students must be accommodated "within reason" and that these accommodations should be at the expense of the institution. Resources in higher educational institutions are often inadequate, leaving disability service units to make decisions based upon budgetary considerations rather than upon proven effectiveness. Moreover, there are no current mandates regarding what kinds of accommodations should be provided nor any legal obligation to help students with disabilities transition into their institution.

Participation: Participation in postsecondary education includes the ability to ask questions, to discuss ideas with classmates and professors, to reflect upon readings, to explore the library, to have access to information in accessible formats at the proper time, and to work on a research project. For most students with disabilities, these things are difficult because of access issues, lack of skills in self-advocacy and self-determination, social life needs, availability of educational assistance, and differences in academic requirements.

Retention and Persistence: Retention and persistence are based on continued student attendance in school and consistent progress in class hours, declaration of a major, and their progression toward desired goals. Accessible transportation for students with disabilities and even architectural barriers are still issues and other supports such as testing accommodations, note-takers, personal counseling, and advocacy assistance are rarely offered.

9. Financial Aid Issues:

   Cost and Time Factors: Time is a factor because the extended period necessary for some students with disabilities to complete their degree adversely affects the final cost of their education and delays the start of their wage-earning years. Timelines and credit requirements in federal funding may limit the amount of time a student may have to access and complete a degree in higher education. This is also true for scholarships, grants, loans and work-study awards. Only 48% of students with disabilities received financial aid, as opposed to 59% of others.

   Social Security Issues: Most students with disabilities are eligible for Supplemental Security Insurance (SSI), Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and the Plan for Achieving Self Support (PASS) program, although financial aid officers may not be aware of Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) and SSA funding and their legal obligation to students. SSI and SSDI have restrictive eligibility requirements hinging on: medical disabilities as opposed to intellectual ones, severe disabilities, low employment earnings, and a two year waiting period for Medicare funding. Individuals receiving SSI and their family members are not permitted to save for college, without losing their eligibility for SSI and related services. In some states, people on SSI are allowed to have $2,000 in savings. If they establish an account, they can save an additional $2,000, but only if a VR counselor agrees that the account will enable them to achieve a specific employment goal. This $4,000 is not enough to pay for transportation, tuition, books, medical expenses, and living expenses. Students receiving SSI, Medicaid funding or state VR benefits may not be permitted to participate in college work-study.

   Work-study Programs: Work-study programs that require 10-20 hours of on-campus employment may be too time-consuming for students with disabilities. Campuses also may not offer job accommodations to allow participation in work-study forcing students with disabilities to take out student loans. Some are extremely reluctant to take out student loans due to concerns about their ability to repay them.

   Financial Aid and the Higher Education Act: The HEA increases students’ financial aid packages to match their out-of-pocket disability related expenses. There should be an option for students to disclose disability-related expenses on the Department of Education Free Application for Student Aid (FAFSA), so that colleges and universities can use this information when determining the amount of a Pell Grant, as is required in HEA. The Cost of Attendance section states that institutions should allow for reasonable disability related expenses that are not paid for by other assisting agencies, but people may not be aware of this feature of the HEA, so many schools do not have special planning for disability related expenses when putting financial aid packages together.

10. Issues of Personnel Preparation: Everyone in disability-related fields of study should be taught all issues of access in all stages of the post-secondary institution and Self-Determination. Personnel training needs to prepare educators, counselors and other support staff to educate them in methods of collaboration so they can work with others who support students with disabilities. Students with disabilities should also be recruited to these programs, thus providing mentors and role models.
11. Recommendations for Policy Makers: Congress, through HEA’s reauthorization, has the power to attend to these gaps in financial support between those with disabilities and those without, and create a seamless system to improve the educational outcomes for all students with disabilities. The following recommendations are designed to help achieve this goal.
• Establish the Commission on Access to Postsecondary Education for People with Disabilities to investigate and resolve the discrepancies between different agencies and their policies.
• Create a national Web-based Assessment Center and Register of information on disability supports that are provided at different universities.
• Create a national network of Technical Assistance Centers, one in each state to work collaboratively with faculty development and disability support programs in postsecondary education settings.
• The HEA should seek to remove barriers to financial aid, such as student loans and work-study programs.
• The reauthorized HEA should establish national guidelines, performance standards and funding to address the need to train various support personnel.
• Authorize a National Longitudinal Transitional Study to: (1) document the value of postsecondary education for people with disabilities; (2) determine the current status of people with disabilities as they transition to, access, and complete postsecondary education and their subsequent employment; (3) assess factors which contribute to their success in postsecondary studies, (4) provide data on: availability of financial aid; provision and coordination of related supports; and integration of generic services and supports.

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