Introduction
There is a lot of misinformation passed around about IEPs, 504 plans, and their place in the college disability accommodations process. People with good intentions sometimes misunderstand how things work, or they generalize one student’s experience at one college to be applicable to all. Unfortunately, these misunderstandings may be leading high school IEP teams to make unnecessary changes to students’ plans. See what too many people get wrong about accommodations.
Myth #1 – Students should be moved from an IEP to a 504 plan because 504 plans are valid at college
Regular readers of my work know that there is a lot of misunderstanding about 504 plans. It is understandable that people believe that since Section 504 covers both K-12 schools and colleges, colleges have to follow 504 plans, but this is not true.
Colleges do have to provide eligible students with accommodations, but is not because they have 504 plans from their high school. Colleges are subject to Subpart E of Section 504, while K-12 schools are subject to Subpart D. While you won’t find a sentence in the laws that says that “This means colleges don’t have to follow students’ 504 plans,” that is the effect of the shift from one subpart to another.
[Neither 504 plans nor IEPs are valid after students graduate from high school.]
One possible cause of confusion may be that some colleges’ disability services (DS) offices accept students’ 504 plans (or IEPs) as documentation (meaning paperwork showing the presence of a disability), and in some cases, they may also grant the same accommodations students had received in high school.
This may lead to an understandable misconception that those schools are actually following students’ 504 plans, but this is not what they’re doing. In these situations, colleges are simply providing the same accommodations students received before because they’ve found those students eligible for them and the accommodations were considered appropriate.
Myth #2 – High school students should be taken off of any plan (504 or IEP) for their senior year because there aren’t accommodations at college for students with learning disabilities and/or ADHD
Colleges do provide accommodations for all sorts of disabilities. (Be aware that many colleges don’t accommodate test anxiety, as it is not considered a disability.) In some cases, students may even get more accommodations than they received in high school. No one should take away all of students’ accommodations in their senior year because of any misunderstanding about the availability of college accommodations. Ideally, though – by senior year – college-bound students should be trying to work with only the kinds of accommodations they might find available at college, so they have confidence going about their ability to do well without the supports they’re unlikely to receive. (Of course, each student’s situation is different, and IEP teams must make individualized decisions based on students’ needs, which they must consider carefully.)Myth #3 If a student received an accommodation in high school, colleges have to provide the same one(s)
College DS offices decide what accommodations students will receive based on what they see in their documentation. (See this for myths about documentation.) Some colleges may ask students what accommodations they received previously, but that doesn’t mean they’re obligated to provide them. That said, at the college level, there are many accommodations granted to students who are found eligible for them. (Learn about a few on this page.) At the same time, though, there are some categories of accommodations that colleges don’t have to grant because of exceptions in the prevailing laws. You may already have heard that colleges don’t have to approve anything that would be a fundamental alteration to essential elements of the college’s overall requirements or of a particular class or program. And there are some they generally don’t provide because of what they consider to be appropriate at the college level (ex. a chance to retake tests for a better grade). Read my book to learn what documentation is typically required and why colleges don’t have to provide certain accommodations.Myth #4 – High schools should add lots of accommodations onto students’ high school plans so that they can receive those in college
Again, colleges don’t follow IEPs or 504 plans, and they are not legally obligated to provide the same accommodations students previously received simply because they had them in the past. Some colleges won’t ask to see students IEPs or 504 plans, and even if they do, that doesn’t mean they will approve what’s in them. College DS offices are allowed to make their own decisions about the accommodations for which students are eligible based on the evidence they see in students’ documentation. If they don’t see support for a requested accommodation in there, colleges may decide not to grant it simply on the basis of history, as is their right. However, many students have their requests approved, so don’t assume this will happen. Also, while this probably won’t happen for many students, there will be some situations where students who received a certain accommodation aren’t found eligible for it at their college. They should ask their contact at disability services (DS) and ask how to appeal that decision. And again, there may be accommodations students received that colleges don’t have to provide. The fact that they received them before does not change that.Myth #5 – Students will receive more/better accommodations if they attend a private college
I think some people believe that because private colleges charge more money, they will be more generous with students or have more to offer. As with so many parts of the discussion around college transition and accommodations, it’s not a good idea to make such generalizations. There are public schools that provide accommodations and services that go beyond the minimum required by law (for free, not through a fee-based LD program), and there are probably private colleges that won’t provide what students might expect, given the tuition. The K&W Guide to Colleges for Students with Learning Differences can serve as a resource for students seeking some basic information about accommodations and services at several hundred colleges. (It also provides a list of colleges providing fee-based programs that offer additional supports.) K&W can only cover a few hundred colleges, even though there are a thousands in the U.S. See what one of the co-authors says about how to use the guide. The Association for Higher Education and Disabilities offers a free database to help students with their searches. Bass Educational Services also provides a subscription-based database of colleges with descriptions of their accommodations and services (there is also a free version). Students can do some research to get a sense of what the colleges they’re looking at might provide. I offer a free download suggesting some questions they might want to ask. I also wrote a post suggesting how to do explore DS and other support webpages on college sites and a video demonstrating what this process could look like.Author Note
These misunderstandings may have numerous roots. Parents may be finding information online that is misleading. Teachers and administrators likely haven’t received any training covering how the college disability services system works or what accommodations are or aren’t available there, and they, too, may be getting information that is inaccurate. All team members involved in planning should remember that others are operating in good faith and according to the information to which they’ve had access. If all team members work together using accurate information, they can prepare students for successful college transition.
