Assisting 504 Students Transition to Postsecondary Educational Settings

In Volume 25, Issue 11 of the Special Educator (December 4, 2009), school attorney Dave Richards with Richards, Lindsay and Martin in Austin, Texas offer guidance to districts on how to facilitate postsecondary transition for students served under a 504 plan. He stresses the importance of explaining to students that there are distinct differences between 504 services in the K-12 setting and in college settings. In postsecondary settings, students with disabilities are responsible for making college staff aware of their disabilities and accommodations. It is also the student's responsibility to provide requested documentation verifying the existence of a disabling condition and it must be provided at the student's expense. Furthermore, colleges are afforded the opportunity to use "reasonable accommodation" standards which means they can refuse to provide an accommodation if doing so would impose "an undue hardship on the operation of its program or activity."
Students with disabilities also need to be aware that the Section 504 regulation at 34 CFR 104.37(b) prohibits counselors from counseling students with disabilities to "more restrictive career objectives than nondisabled students with similar interests and abilities." Finally, districts can help students with disabilities transition more successfully by fostering self-advocacy skills. They should be encouraged to participate in or even lead their own 504 team meetings and they need to be able to communicate their accommodation needs clearly.