11 Colleges & Universities for Students With Disabilities
Christen Arafeh 
College is hard enough, your disability doesn't have to make it harder.
Colleges & Universities for Students With Disabilities
By definition, a disability is a physical or mental condition that limits a person’s movements, senses, or activities.
It doesn’t say that a person with a disability can’t excel at post-secondary education, and there are dozens of colleges that agree. What they do need are some accommodations or different approaches to being taught.
Whether it’s a physical disability, a developmental one, or related to learning, there are programs at a number of great colleges ready to help students with everything from dyslexia to deafness, from ADHD to Autism Spectrum Disorder, from Down Syndrome to depression.
*Some institutions may have a TBD next to them or a blank space because we're still gathering information and providing an even more thorough list!
11 Best Colleges & Universities for Students with Disabilities
Assistance Type: Learning Disabilities.
Cost: Free with paid plans from $975 to $2,775 per semester
The Supportive Learning Services program at American International College provides professional tutoring services to students, as well as assistance with study skills, organization, and time management. Students can also take advantage of the Center for Accessibility Services and Academic Accommodations (CASAA), which provides both academic and physical accommodations.
Assistance Type: Learning and Physical Disabilities, as well as Autism Spectrum Disorder
Cost: TBD
At Adelphi University, there are a number of programs for students with disabilities, including a Learning Resource Program for students with ADHD, a Social Training Center for students with high-functioning autism (HFA) or Asperger’s syndrome, and Residential Life and Housing Accommodations, as well as Assistive Technology, for those with disabilities. The Bridges to Adelphi program, which is fee-based and addresses a variety of issues, addresses executive functioning and problem-solving skills. Adelphi is also home to the Autism Task Force.
Assistance Type: Learning Disabilities, including Autism Spectrum Disorder
Cost: Free
Baylor University’s Office of Access and Learning Accommodation (OALA) process all disability requests and works with faculty and staff on accommodations. They provide a Baylor Disability Shuttle and works with Baylor Center for Developmental Disabilities, which offers programs for students with autism spectrum disorder.
Assistance Type: Mild Emotional & Learning Disabilities
Centenary University provides two programs: Project ABLE and STEP Ahead. Project ABLE is designed to bridge students with psychology, learning, or neurological differences from high school to college, while STEP Ahead is for students with a background indicating a need for basic skills remediation, developmental education, or specialized support.
Assistance Type: Autism Spectrum Disorder
Cost: $2,000 per semester
The College Autism Transition Support (CATS) program at Daemen College provides weekly life skills coaching, vocational support, and counseling support.
Assistance Type: Learning Disabilities & ADHD
Cost: $2,700-$8,170 per year based on services, plus tuition
The Plus Program comes in three different levels depending on the frequency of specialized services, which include one-on-ones with Professional Learning Consultants, a Focus For Success benchmarking system, executive functioning coaching, a comprehensive learning plan, customized mentor sessions, and more.
Assistance Type: Autism Spectrum Disorder
Cost: $11,619
The Douglass Developmental Disabilities Center at Rutgers University offers a wide variety of accommodations, including single rooms with no roommates and upperclassmen studying psychology as peer mentors.
Assistance Type: Learning Disabilities, including Autism Spectrum Disorder
Cost: $10,772
Able to handle students with more intensive needs, the Buckhart Transition Academy at Texas Tech University offers a 3-year program for students on the autism spectrum. Students can take advantage of internships under the watchful eye of a professional job coach.
Assistance Type: Learning disabilities, as well as ADHD
Cost: one-time fee of $14,600 plus tuition
The Program for Academic Learning Skills (PALS) at Hofstra University has been helping students with learning disabilities and ADD or ADHD for over 30 years.
Assistance Type: Learning Disabilities and ADHD
Cost: $400-$2,000
Ursuline College provides FOCUS: for Students with Learning Disabilities and ADHD. The program has the goal of providing a smooth transition from high school into college through one-on-one coaching with disability specialists and teaching self-advocacy skills.
Assistance Type: Autism Spectrum Disorder
Cost: $9,900
Career-centric, the University of South Florida’s autism program at The Learning Academy pairs students with mentors, orchestrates group activities, and helps students find jobs that highlight their strengths. This is not a residential program.
If the college is not willing to give you the accommodations you need to set you up for success, FIND A SCHOOL THAT WILL.
Do you wish you had a list of scholarships that you met all the requirements for, so you could skip the cumbersome scholarships search, and go straight into applying? Check out our Personalized Scholarship Search.
Categories: : college, disabilities
About the Author
Christen is the founder of Hive Education. She is passionate about helping families navigate the college application and admissions processes. She helps students set goals to work towards their own debt-free degrees with her personalized scholarship searches, scholarship courses, and by sharing her scholarship strategies that won her over $900,000 in for her own college education. With four years of experience in higher education, two years working with teens in inner city high schools in New Orleans, and starting her first college consulting company during a pandemic in 2020 she strives to make college accessible for everyone, especially for first generation, low income, and minority students. In her spare time she loves to share her love for books with her daughters. You can find her on Facebook.
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