As a student with a disability leaving high school and entering postsecondary education, will I see differences in my rights and how they are addressed?
In high school, Section 504 requires a school district to provide a free appropriate public education (FAPE) to each child with a disability. Whatever the disability, the school district must identify the student’s education needs and provide any regular or special education and related aids and services to meet those needs.
Unlike your high school, the college is not required to provide FAPE. Instead, the postsecondary school is required to provide appropriate academic adjustments as necessary to ensure that it does not discriminate on the basis of disability.
May a postsecondary school deny my admission because I have a disability?
No. If you meet the essential requirements for admission, a postsecondary school may not deny your admission simply because you have a disability.
Do I have to inform a postsecondary school that I have a disability?
No. However, if you want the school to provide an academic adjustment or reasonable accommodation, you must identify yourself as having a disability. Likewise, you should let the school know about your disability if you want to ensure that you are assigned to accessible facilities. In any event, your disclosure of a disability is always voluntary.
Note: Students wishing to disclose of their disability and request accommodations should contact the disability support services office.
What academic adjustments must a postsecondary school provide?
The appropriate academic adjustment or accommodation must be determined based on your disability and individual needs. Academic adjustments include modifications to academic requirements and auxiliary aids and services, for example, arranging for priority registration; reducing a course load; substituting one course for another; providing notetakers; recording devices; sign language interpreters; extended time for testing and equipping school computers with screen-reading, voice recognition or other adaptive software or hardware.
In providing an accommodation or adjustment, the postsecondary school is not required to lower or waive essential requirements. For example, although your school may be required to provide extended testing time, it is not required to change the substantive content of the test. In addition, the postsecondary school does not have to make modifications that would fundamentally alter the nature of a service, program or activity or would result in undue financial or administrative burdens. Finally, a postsecondary school is not required to provide personal attendants, individually prescribed devices, readers for personal use or study, or other devices of a personal nature, such as tutoring and typing.
If I want an academic adjustment or accommodation, what must I do?
You must inform your school that you have a disability and need an academic adjustment. At Rock Valley College, this is done by contacting the coordinator of disability support services.
Unlike high schools, postsecondary schools are not required to identify you as having a disability or assess your needs.
You are responsible for knowing and following the appropriate procedures for requesting accommodations, as set forth by the disability support services office. If you have any questions regarding the procedures contact the coordinator of DSS at (815) 921-2356.
When should I request an academic accommodation?
Although you may request an accommodation at any time, you should request it as early as possible. Some accommodations take more time to provide than others, such as sign language interpreters, books on tape, etc.
You should follow the appropriate procedures to ensure that the accommodation can be granted in a timely manner.
Do I have to prove that I have a disability to obtain academic adjustments?
Yes. You will need to provide documentation that shows you have a current disability and need an accommodation(s). For specific documentation requirements see eligibility for services.
What documentation should I provide?
Documentation requirements will vary from school to school, and some may require more documentation than others.
Although an Individualized Education Program (IEP) or Section 504 plan, if you have one, may help identify services that have been effective for you, it generally is not sufficient documentation. This is because postsecondary education presents different demands than high school education, and what you need to meet these new demands may be different.
Also, in some cases, the nature of a disability may change.
If the documentation you have does not meet the postsecondary school’s requirements, the coordinator of disability support services must inform you in a timely manner what additional documentation you need to provide. You may need a new evaluation in order to meet the documentation requirements.
Who has to pay for a new evaluation?
Neither your high school nor postsecondary school is required to conduct or pay for a new evaluation to document your disability and need for academic accommodations. The student generally bears the cost of getting evaluated and is responsible for securing funding to pay an appropriate professional to do it.
If you are eligible for services through your state vocational rehabilitation agency, you may qualify for an evaluation at no cost to you. You may locate your state vocational rehabilitation agency through this Department of
Education web page: http://www.ed.gov/parents/needs/speced/resources.html.
Once the college has received the necessary documentation from me, what should I expect?
Once you have appropriate documentation to present, you should contact the disability support services office to schedule an appointment for the intake. During the intake the Coordinator will review your request for accommodations in light of the essential requirements for the relevant program to help determine an appropriate academic accommodation(s). It is important to remember that the college is not required to lower or waive essential requirements. If you have requested accommodations that are deemed unreasonable, alternative accommodations will be suggested if they would also be effective. The school may also conduct its own evaluation of your disability and needs at its own expense.
The process of determining reasonable accommodations should be an interactive process between the coordinator of DSS and you. Unlike the experience you may have had in high school, however, do not expect the postsecondary school to invite your parents to participate in the process or to develop an accommodation plan for you. Although they may be present, with a student’s consent, parents’ roles are secondary to the student’s at the postsecondary level.
What if the accommodation(s) we identified is not working?
Let the coordinator of DSS know as soon as you become aware that the results are not what you expected. It may be too late to correct the problem if you wait until the course or activity is completed. You and the Coordinator of DSS will work together to resolve the problem.
(As a general rule, it is always best if you attempt to resolve the problem with whoever is involved (eg. A teacher, note taker, sign language interpreter, etc.) prior to contacting the DSS office. If, after a good faith effort to resolve the problem, you still are unhappy you should contact the coordinator of DSS).
May a postsecondary school charge me for providing an academic accommodation(s)?
No. Furthermore, it may not charge students with disabilities more for participating in its programs or activities than it charges students without disabilities.
What can I do if I believe the school is discriminating against me?
You may contact the Coordinator of disability support services for information on how to address your concerns.
Rock Valley College has a grievance procedure in place to ensure that you may raise your concerns fully and fairly and must provide for the prompt and equitable resolution of complaints.
You should be prepared to present all the reasons that support your request.
If you are dissatisfied with the outcome from using the school’s grievance procedures, or you wish to pursue an alternative to using the grievance procedures, you may file a complaint against the school with OCR (Office of Civil Rights), or in a court. For more information, visit
http://www.ed.gov/ocr/docs/howto.html
FAQs courtesy of U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights, Students with Disabilities Preparing for Postsecondary Education: Know Your Rights and Responsibilities, Washington, D.C., 2002.
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