Finding a College That Suits Students With Special Needs

Students with learning disabilities are applying to college and for private student loans this fall at more than five times the rate of the 1980s -- and facing a confusing thicket of special-needs jargon in the process.

Colleges and universities are "the new frontier, in terms of access to education" for students with learning differences, says George Jesien of the Association of University Centers on Disabilities. Only recently have they made much progress in leveling the playing field for qualified students with disabilities and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder to earn college degrees.

Campus attitudes and programs for special-needs students vary wildly, as Robbie Burnstine, Cambridge, Mass., saw on a tour of campuses. Her son needs accommodations for a learning difference; on some campuses, questions about the topic elicited "whole paragraphs" describing fine-tuned supports. On others, however, "they'll say, 'We don't really have a need for much of that' -- which is a red flag."

This is a sharp contrast to the standardized approach required by federal law in public schools; they must tailor instruction to fulfill all students' right to a suitable education. But colleges are required by law only to make "reasonable accommodations" for qualified students with disabilities.

Some complex terminology surrounds these accommodations. Colleges lack universal labels to describe their supports, and guidebooks and educational consultants use no less than a half-dozen terms -- basic, limited, self-directed, decentralized, coordinated, structured and proactive -- to describe various service levels.

Thinking of support programs in three main categories can help students compare colleges. "Basic" programs, also called limited, self-directed or decentralized programs, offer only the accommodations required by law, such as untimed testing or note-taking help. Most schools fall into this category, and it works fine for many students. Among my five step- and biological children, two have special needs, and one attended a college with basic services, where she got the minimal help she needed to secure extended-time testing.

At worst, however, a "basic" label is a smokescreen for doing nothing. Such failings are one reason retention rates among undergraduates with learning disabilities trail overall retention rates by 10 percentage points, federal data show.

At the next level of support are programs described by Marybeth Kravets, co-author of a Princeton Review guidebook on the topic, as "coordinated services." These go beyond the minimum supports required by law. They have at least one trained staffer, may have input on admissions decisions and offer study-skills classes, tutors and other services.

The highest level of support is found in what experts describe as "structured" or "proactive" programs. These programs often require students to sign a contract, and may charge fees of $2,000 to $8,000 a year. They may offer modified coursework, and trained staffers monitor students' progress. Fewer than 100 schools fall into this category, Ms. Kravets says.

At least as important as all these categories, however, is a campus visit. Students should make an appointment with the disabilities office or staffer, which all schools should have; interview staff about services and size up their comfort level in working with the personalities there. While many students worry that tipping their hand about a disability will poison their chances of admission, campus officials say that isn't likely to happen at most colleges. (Besides, if a college discriminates against you for visiting the disabilities office, maybe you don't want to go there anyway.)

Make the first cut of target colleges based on general factors, such as academic and extracurricular offerings and campus climate; then do a second cut based on disability supports.

And don't forget an exit plan. Often, "people are so focused on, 'Can I get in?' that they're not sufficiently worried about, 'Can I get out' " with a degree, says Michael Shuttic of the Association on Higher Education and Disabilities. Make sure graduation requirements, such as math or foreign language, aren't insurmountable, and that needed course substitutions or remedial classes are provided.

By: Sue Shellenbarger
Wall Street Journal; September 17, 2008

High-Degree Professionals Show Power

Survey Highlights Worry of Winners, Losers in Economy

Workers with professional degrees, such as doctors and lawyers, were the only educational group to see their inflation-adjusted earnings increase over the most recent economic expansion, adding to the concern that the economy has benefited higher-earning Americans at the expense of others.

Workers in every other educational group -- including Ph.D.s as well as high school dropouts -- earned less in 2007 than they did in 2000, adjusted for inflation, according to data from the Census Bureau. Data don't include 2008 earnings.

The recent data are the latest reminder of how college degrees, long seen as a path to the middle class, no longer guarantees fatter paychecks every year. The statistics also indicate how deeply economic divisions have grown despite the economic expansion that started in 2001. Both presidential candidates have proposed policies to address this inequality.

Economists cite a number of reasons for falling wages for people with a bachelor's degree. Open borders resulted in blue- and white-collar jobs being sent abroad -- and skilled immigrants competing for jobs in the U.S. Job growth during the 2001 to 2007 expansion was weak compared to the late 1990s boom, thus putting less pressure on employers to dole out pay increases. Rising health-care costs are also a bigger part of total compensation than they were in the past. The Census data measure income, which doesn't include the health-care bills employers pick up for workers.

Falling wages are a big reason why so many Americans have cited economic issues among their biggest concerns going into the presidential election. "Americans are pretty sophisticated pocketbook voters and lots of individuals and their families understand that real earnings growth has been waning for many years," said Matthew J. Slaughter, an economics professor at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College, who was a Bush White House economist.

Many Democrats have blamed foreign trade for a big part of the rise in income inequality and have turned increasingly against new trade pacts. On the presidential level, Democratic nominee Sen. Barack Obama is pushing a number of proposals that would raise taxes for those who earn more than $250,000 to fund tax cuts for those of more modest means.

His Republican opponent, Sen. John McCain, remains a committed free trader. But Sen. McCain is pushing an overhaul of unemployment insurance and retraining as a way to help those who have fallen behind. He also argues that cutting corporate income taxes will boost economic growth and jobs.

The inflation-adjusted median salary for people with professional degrees was $89,602 in 2007, up about 3% from 2000, when the median salary was $87,158, according to the Census.

Every other group, including those with college and doctorate degrees, saw income declines. The inflation-adjusted median salary for a person with a bachelor's degree fell about 3%, adjusted for inflation, to $47,240 last year from 2000. Median master's-degree salaries fell about 4%, to $56,707. Salaries for high school graduates fell about 3%, to $28,290.

Given the faltering economy, it is unlikely that lower-earning Americans have made up ground this year. In 2007, the last year for which the Census income data are available, wages grew and unemployment averaged a low 4.6%. Since then, the country has lost about 600,000 jobs and the unemployment rate has risen to 6.1%.

Despite the downbeat numbers, the Census data still show the value of education. In 2007 the median income for people with a bachelor's degree was about two-thirds more than for those with only a high-school diploma; people with a master's made 20% more than those with a college degree only.

But the relative gain to education is diminishing. In 1975, for instance, workers with college degrees earned 60% more per year on average than workers with high-school diplomas only, according to the 2006 Economic Report of the President.

Workers with a college degree saw their earnings premium grow steadily over the next quarter century, and by 2000 their average earnings were roughly double what workers with a high-school diploma made. Over the next four years the trend reversed: By 2004, workers with a college diploma only were earning about 80% more than high-school grads, on average.

"A college degree still provides an important security blanket," says Mr. Slaughter. "But because of the falling mean-B.A. earnings in recent years, just how warm this blanket is is now less clear."

By: Conor Dougherty
Wall Street Journal; September 10, 2008