The accommodations a student utilized in high school will not automatically follow them to college, and many families don't find this out until the first semester is underway.
In our work as clinical psychologists, we regularly help young adults and their families with accommodations: making suggestions, writing advocacy letters, talking through options. But we're not experts in the legal and academic details. So we invited one onto the show.
Elizabeth Hamblet is a state-certified learning disabilities consultant with more than 20 years in the field and the author of Seven Steps to College Success, a practical guide whose appendices answer just about any question a family might have. Here are the main points from our conversation.
*A note from Elizabeth: nothing in this conversation is legal or medical advice. There are more than 4,000 two- and four-year colleges in the U.S., and practices vary widely from campus to campus.
IEPs and 504 plans don't transfer to college
This is the most common myth Elizabeth encounters. IEPs come from the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), which does not apply to colleges. Once a student graduates or ages out, their IEP has no legal weight.
Section 504 is more confusing because it covers both K–12 and higher education. But high schools fall under Subpart D and colleges under Subpart E, and the obligations are very different. In practice, a high school 504 plan doesn't bind a college either. Students have to apply for accommodations again through the college's disability services office.
Some accommodations carry over; others rarely do
Extended time on in-class exams is commonly available in college for students whose disabilities affect processing speed, academic fluency or handwriting. Some may also get a laptop.
Extended time on papers, projects and other out-of-class work is a different story. In a longitudinal study that ended in 2010, 72% of students in the cohort had this accommodation in high school, but only 6% received it in college. Deadline extensions are rarely approved, and usually only for physical or mental health conditions with unpredictable, severe flare-ups.
Other accommodations that are hard to get, or held to a higher bar, include:
Attendance flexibility, typically reserved for the same flare-up conditions, not for ADHD-related lateness or impulsivity.
Single rooms, which depend heavily on how many singles a campus has.
Exemption from group projects, since teamwork is often a core goal of a course, especially in fields like engineering.
Personal services, such as a one-on-one learning specialist or someone to make study guides. The law doesn't require colleges to provide these.
Human readers, which are more often replaced by a laptop with text-to-speech software, except in cases like visual disabilities or certain math and science exams.
A history of accommodations isn't enough
Colleges set their own documentation requirements, and what satisfied a high school may not satisfy a college. For example, an ADHD diagnosis from a pediatrician during a well visit is probably not sufficient at many schools.
The college's job is to determine whether a student has a "substantial limitation" as defined by law. Without objective measures, such as testing that shows slow processing speed or fluency, the college will likely require them. Students who received informal accommodations in high school (Elizabeth notes this seems more common at private schools) may need a formal evaluation for the first time.
One more point families are often surprised by: test anxiety on its own is not considered a disability at many colleges. If a student's anxiety is severe enough to cause physical illness, Elizabeth suggests documenting it as well as possible, including teacher reports, and submitting it to see how the college responds.
The right accommodation matches the actual need
Elizabeth and her colleagues ask a specific question: how does the college environment create a barrier for this student, compared with their neurotypical peers? Feeling fully relaxed on a test isn't the goal. Everyone feels some anxiety on exams.
We added a clinical perspective here. Extended time helps a student with documented slow processing speed get what they know onto the page. But a student with ADHD whose processing speed is fine may actually be hurt by extra time, since it stretches their attention further. Colleges don't offer prompting to return to task, but breaks may be an option, and students can build in their own cues, like a vibration on a smartwatch.
Similarly, avoiding what makes us anxious isn't how anxiety is treated. Test anxiety, including that "freeze" moment when everything you studied seems to vanish, responds well to skills and practice. Those skills pay off well beyond college, in job interviews and presentations.
Skills matter as much as accommodations
Over her 20-plus years in the field, Elizabeth has seen K–12 schools shift toward providing accommodations and away from teaching the underlying strategies. Many students arrive at college used to having an adult beside them directing their work, rather than coaching them to build their own competence.
Section 504 is meant to give students an equal opportunity to succeed, not to guarantee success. When adults make everything frictionless, with perfect study guides and perfect notes, students can come to expect an ideal that college won't provide.
And perfection isn't required. As Elizabeth's friend, psychologist Ellen Bratton, likes to say: C's get degrees. Most neurotypical students don't take perfect notes or study perfectly either, and they pass their classes.
Strategies any student can use
We asked Elizabeth for her go-to strategies for any student, whether or not they have accommodations:
Find out what support exists on campus. Look for tutoring centers, academic coaches, office hours and TA review sessions. In that same longitudinal study, 50% of students with disabilities used only the supports available to all students, not formal accommodations.
Work on time management. Elizabeth's website has a free time-management section under its tools for college students.
Use a reading strategy like SQ3R to get through texts efficiently in one pass.
Be deliberate about highlighting, so it supports learning rather than replacing it.
Set goals to stay on track, especially during midsemester slumps when motivation drops.
Talk to someone. Campus counseling can help if you feel like you don't belong or that everyone else has it easier. (They probably don't.)
We're grateful to Elizabeth Hamblet for her advocacy and for making so many of her tools accessible. Her book, Seven Steps to College Success, is available now.
Link to Purchase Book on Amazon
Elizabeth’s free “Tools for College Students” resources
To hear the full conversation with Elizabeth Hamblet check out the latest episode of the College Is Fine Podcast. 🎧
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