Applying to college with a learning disability
A lot of parents think that having a learning disability is detrimental to a college application, however, they find themselves stunned to learn that this is actually not the case. In fact, college admissions offices are looking for diversity in their student body—it’s their duty to create a pool of interesting people for their school. Each person should have a story to demonstrate how they overcame challenges to receive an education, and having a learning disability can easily demonstrate a person’s diligence and hard work.
Making sure to stand out
Families shouldn’t hide their learning disabilities when applying to college, but instead, they should embrace it and allow it to be a part of their application. It increases student-based aid for tuition because colleges empathize and understand how difficult it is to pay for a child with special needs. It’s important to make sure that your disability stands out on your college application. State the name of your disability and describe how it has affected your learning and test taking. Provide examples to help demonstrate how you adjusted and adapted to your disability, and show how you compensated in other areas. If you are able to demonstrate that you overcame this struggle and was able to adjust, then you are painting a beautiful picture of yourself.
Finding the right college for you
It’s equally important to make sure that you find a college that is suitable for you. Explore colleges to discover what accommodations they can provide and what programs they can offer to better the educational experience. There are a few important questions to ask like: (1) Does the school have experience working with students with those specific disabilities? (2) What accommodations can they provide? (3) How long does it take students with learning disabilities to complete their courses? (4) What is the retention rate of students with learning disabilities? (5) What is the ratio of specialized staff to the ratio of students with learning disabilities? (6) Is support offered by interns, graduate students, peer tutors or trained professionals? These are just some generalized questions that every university should be able to provide an answer for; colleges are open to answering these questions, and you should never shy away from asking anything that is on your mind.
Colleges prefer to be contacted with an open letter explaining your disability. Ask them about the accommodations they can provide or any other questions that are on your mind. You can tell a lot off of the return letter; an in-depth return letter can act as an indicator for the school’s outlook on students with disabilities. Make sure to provide a list of medical information to validify your claims; some schools will offer to create custom schedules, reduce course loads, and provide extra access to professors and special study groups.
Paying for College With Disabilities
It’s understandable to have a burden to pay for college when you’re raising a child with disabilities. They generally require more attention and put a heavier strain on the wallet. Things have changed since the time when children with disabilities stood no chance of getting into good schools— under the Obama administration, ABLE accounts came to be. ABLE accounts are important to have when applying to college. We understand that saving up money for a college can be hard, however, there are smart ways to do it. If you (1) become disabled before the age of 26, (2) receive SSDI or SSI, and (3) file a disability certification under rules that the IRS will write, then you can qualify to create an ABLE account. ABLE accounts are special savings accounts in which earnings aren’t taxed and are not considered for the SSI program, medicaid, and any other federal means-tested benefits. You can use the funds from this account in education, health costs, legal fees, and so much more. In fact, the first $100,000 are not treated as personal assets. It’s generally a great idea to set up this account early since it can make a huge difference in any financial situation. ABLE accounts are also considered a lot more flexible than a Special Needs Trust. It gives you more freedom in how you spend the assets. The ABLE act recognizes the difficulty of living with disability, and attempts to lessen the hassle. The ABLE act is a smart investment into not only your education, but also into your personal finances!
Ultimately, it comes down to the choices you make and how you plan it out. There are countless amounts of roads you can take to make sure that a child with disabilities is able to go to college. It’s important to make sure to use a disability as an advantage in the application process, and it’s even more important to make sure that you can pay for it. Try to set goals and make sure that you’re meeting them. PlanKidsFuture has a dedicated team of experts to help inform you and dive deeper into finding the right path to fully understanding the process!