Center: View of Christ the King Chapel from Quad; Right: Professor with students in classroom.
High School & College: Differences
DSS Forms
Accommodations & Services

Differences between High School & College:

  • Students are responsible for monitoring their own progress and for recognizing when they need additional help
  • There is NO resource room in college
  • Classes meet less often and for fewer hours per week
  • Instruction is mainly by lecture, so taking good notes is essential
  • An entire course is completed in 16 weeks or less which means that there is more work to do and less time to do it in
  • Final grades may be based on just 2 or 3 test scores
  • There will be more major writing assignments
  • Students need to be able to juggle assignments, job and/or family responsibilities, plus any sports or any other volunteer activities, etc.

High School Responsibilities:

  • Classify disabilities according to specified diagnostic categories and provide assessment of cognitive/ psychological disabilities
  • Involve parents or guardians in placement decisions
  • Place you in programs and some non-academic services, where you will benefit (in any way), by placement committee with parent participation and approval
  • Prepare IEP's and modify academic programs

College Responsibilities:

  • Inform you of rights, responsibilities, and maintain confidential student records (separate from the college's educational records)
  • Provide reasonable  access to programs/ services that are offered to all students
  • Inform you of self-advocacy procedures for registering and receiving academic/ non-academic services
  • Accept and identify the impairment that causes the substantial limitation based on student-provided current documentation
  • Make reasonable accommodations based on the qualifying criteria

Colleges are NOT required to:

  • Reduce or adjust the essential requirements of a course/program
  • Conduct testing and assessment of learning disabilities
  • Provide personal attendants
  • Prepare IEP's or make accommodations based solely on IEP's

Student Responsibility to:

  • Meet the college's qualifications and essential technical, academic, and institutional standards, including the community standards and the code of academic integrity
  • Act as an independent adult
  • Self-identify or disclose their disability in a timely manner
  • Provide verifying current documentation from a qualified professional source to the DSS office
  • Contact the DSS office regarding requests for academic/ non-academic services, adjustments, auxiliary aids- including testing accommodations

Helpful Hints:

  • Prior to high school graduation, obtain a copy of your current documentation and any pertinent information relating to your disability. Documentation for cognitive/ physical disabilities should be no more than three years old from date administered, psychological disabilities may require more recent documentation
  • Inquire about disability support services at the college level
  • Prior to orientation/starting class, make an appointment to meet with a member of the DSS staff to go over requirements, procedures, and policies. Arrange for reasonable accommodations
  • Accommodations are put in place once the DSS intake form and current documentation have been received, as well as once the assessment evaluation by the DSS office has been completed