As a high school student with an IEP or 504 Plan with accommodations, you may be wondering if you can utilize this type of assistance in college. The answer is a definite “Yes!” However, accommodations in college might look different.
As you may remember from when you first received your IEP or 504 Plan, this process often involves additional paperwork and meetings, something that may feel familiar from your K–12 experience. Let us explore what needs to be done to make this process as smooth as possible during your transition to college.
Can You Use Your IEP in College?
While you can receive accommodations in college, it’s important to understand that your high school IEP or 504 Plan does not automatically transfer with you. Colleges are not required to follow an IEP in the same way K–12 schools are.
Instead, your IEP or 504 Plan serves as helpful background documentation that supports your request for accommodations. At the college level, accommodations are granted under different laws and are based on current documentation and individual need, which means you will need to self-advocate and work directly with your college to determine what supports are appropriate.
Common Accommodations Used in High School
Before discussing your college activities, let’s take a look at the most common accommodations used by high school students to ensure their success. Typically, high school students receive the following accommodations in some form or another:
- Extended Time
- Distraction-free/quiet testing environments
- Alternate testing formats
- Testing over multiple days
- Preferred seating to minimize distractions
- Use of a scribe or note-taker
- Modified textbooks
While this list is not all encompassing, it does provide examples of the types of modifications that can be made at the collegiate level for students who need it.
How to Secure Accommodations in College
To make sure you get the support you need, follow these steps (and be sure to reach out to each college individually because every school handles accommodations differently).
Identify Your School’s Services
At this point, you’ve written your college essays, taken your standardized tests, jumped through all of the hoops in the admissions journey. You’re excited to begin your college experience at “Big State University.” Your first order of business is to identify their Accessibility or Disability Services office. It can go by either name, but you will most likely find it on the school website under Student Services. Here are a few examples of such offices at some Big 10 schools:
University of Illinois:Urbana-Champaign: Disability Resources and Educational Services
University of Michigan: Home | Services for Students with Disabilities
Penn State: Student Disability Resources — Educational Equity
University of Wisconsin-Madison: McBurney Disability Resource Center – UW-Madison’s Office for Students with Disabilities – UW–Madison
Submit an Application
After contacting this type of office at the school you will be attending, you will have to apply for accommodations. Some schools will ask for a brief background summary of your disability and how you have managed it thus far. From there, you will need to provide documentation regarding the disability. This documentation should come from a qualified professional who can establish your disability status, help to explain how it is impacting you as a student, and explain how reasonable accommodations can aid you in your studies.
Meet with an Advisor
From there, you should schedule an appointment with the appropriate personnel from that office to discuss how your accommodations (if approved) will manifest themselves at the college.
I strongly recommend that you reach out to your school’s Accessibility/Disability office as soon as you have committed to your school of choice. These offices work with hundreds of students, and if you wait too long to contact them, your paperwork might not be processed in time for your first classes. Additionally, the college or university may ask for an updated diagnosis, and that can take time too.
In every situation, contacting the school early is the way to go.
A Note about College Accommodations from a College Counselor
In my years as a high school guidance counselor and college admissions advisor, I’ve worked with thousands of students, hundreds of whom received accommodations based upon their IEP or 504 Plan. Once the appropriate modifications were made to their K–12 learning environment, most of those students were quite successful.
In a lot of cases, what happens is the following: students with an IEP or 504 Plan graduate from high school, gain acceptance to the college of their choice, and decide that they want to make it through college without any assistance. After years of feeling slightly different due to accommodations, they want to prove to themselves and others that they can do it on their own.
I completely understand and respect that stance, and as an educator, I’m all for it. However, I’ve seen several students realize after a semester or two in college that their high school accommodations were there for a reason.
Of course, this realization usually only comes after a semester of poor grades and much difficulty. These college students often end up trying to get their accommodations in place after the fact, but the cost is a weak first semester.
If you’re that senior in high school (or their parent), and you’re bound and determined to go without accommodations during college, just be sure to cover your bases. Go ahead and have the accommodations accounted for with your Disability Resources office at your new school in case you start to struggle with your first few classes.
With this approach, even if you go without your accommodations, you’ll have an ally in that office who can guide you towards the resources and faculty in case you do struggle in class. The end goal should always be the success of the student, and by having your modifications ready and keeping an open line of communication with the appropriate office at your school, you’re taking the necessary steps to ensure your success.
Conclusion
Transitioning from high school to college with an IEP or 504 Plan can feel overwhelming, but with early planning and proactive communication, it doesn’t have to be. College accommodations exist to help students demonstrate their true abilities. By understanding how the process works, reaching out early, and keeping accommodations in place even if you’re unsure you’ll need them, you are setting yourself up for success. The goal is not just to get through college but to thrive there, and using the supports available to you is often a key part of that journey.
Have questions about accommodations, documentation, or how to advocate for yourself in college? Schedule a consultation to get personalized guidance and make sure you’re set up for success before your first semester begins.
