Disabled Students

Greetings,
Are there provisions other than the usual, longer test taking time, etc... that a disabled individual is afforded due to his or her disabled status? Lower tuition, some type of waiver?

Thanks,

Bantockesq

 

I'm sure the answer is 'yes,' and that each school has it's own policies/practices and that it depends on the nature of the disability.

 

Lower tuition or a tuition waiver, usually not. But, the one exception I know of is the state of Tennessee. It's a state law and applies to persons domiciled in Tennessee, but it does apply to distance learning courses for those who qualify.

You'll have to check to see what TN considers 'domiciled' to mean for residency purposes. You can read about the Permanently Disabled Discount on the Middle Tennessee State University website. It's not going to vary by school, as it's a state law, so there's no benefit in reading about it on the University of Tennessee website vs. MTSU's website.

You might also try Googling "disabled student tuition waiver", "disabled student tuition discount", or other closely related terms with and without the quotes.

For someone looking for a cheap(er) way to get a degree working around the limitations of a disability, testing out of a lot of courses is a good way to go. There are a lot of free, self-paced courses available, and one can get credit for taking them and passing the final exam with a satisfactory score, or for the ones that aren't credit-bearing taking them to learn the material and then taking CLEP, AP, and other exams for college credit.

Thomas Edison State University is a regionally accredited school that has a LOT of majors, including a self-designed option, and will accept almost 100% of the degree requirements as transfer credits and credit-by-exam, among other methods but transfer courses and credit-by-exam are the two most popular options. I say almost 100% because depending on the major chosen there MAY be a Capstone course that has to be taken through them. For New Jersey residents, the 3 hour course costs $425 per credit and for non-residents and international students the course costs $540 per credit, if that's the ONLY course you need to take at TESU.

There are two other schools that will take almost all degree credits by transfer and/or credit-by-exam as well. They are Charter Oak State College and Excelsior College. Charter Oak and Excelsior don't offer as many majors as Thomas Edison, though.

If you need help, there's a lot of information here, just use the search function. Plus, I'm sure you'll be able to get specific help as well by asking, especially if you - or the person you're asking for - know what you want to major in.

 

Yes to the first part. Note that you will need to apply for such accommodations with the university and document your disability. Accommodations do not happen automatically and the university doesn't have to give you the accommodations you request, they merely have to supply "reasonable" accommodations under the law.

As for the second part, about funding, that is entirely up to the university. If they offer such things it will be done through the school's financial aid office.

Note that if you attend a major university they will have an office of disability services (or something with a similar name). However, smaller schools and on-line schools might have someone tasked to do it part-time and who doesn't know the law well at all and so you will need to educate yourself and be more of a self-advocate.

 

You would have to check with each individual institution. My guess would be that in most cases, unless a state law provides such benefits, no special waivers would be available for a disabled individual.

Of course, a disabled person is entitled to reasonable accommodations under federal law, but that doesn't fall into the kinds of additional benefits you mentioned.

One exception might be if the disabled person is a veteran--discounts would be much more likely, as many institutions offer discounts and/or fee waivers for veterans anyway.

 

College is free in Texas if you're blind; it's the law.

Many schools choose to offer tuition waivers for certain populations, but you'd have to look on every college's website every year (tuition waivers are subject to yearly budget approval).

EDIT: I would like to add that there are a LOT of ways to attend college for free or exceptionally cheap, and you don't need a disability. Maybe someone should write a book about it? Oh...wait....someone did :shhh: