Parents play an important part in helping their child to pursue postsecondary education. Whether or not their child has a disability, it is their parents’ high expectations that encourage students to pursue college. Parents need information and guidance to understand the available supports for and expectations of college students so they can be informed and active participants in the planning process. Parents must also understand how their role will change, how supports can be provided to their child, and what resources are available to finance college participation, as well as the adult responsibilities a student takes on in college, including determining who has access to their school records and communicating their personal choices.

Practice 1: Prepare parent for their new role in inclusive higher education.

Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). FERPA is a federal law that gives parents of students in elementary and secondary schools (excluding schools that do not receive federal funding) certain rights pertaining to their child’s education records. Among other things, FERPA gives parents the right to have access to their child’s school records, the right to amend records if needed, and the right to consent to who else can see information contained in the records.

The purpose of FERPA is to ensure the privacy of educational records and access to those records for parents. The aspect of FERPA that tends to take families by surprise is that “ownership” of the educational data switches from the parent to the student once a student turns 18, or younger than 18 upon enrollment in a postsecondary institution (regardless of who is paying the tuition or the presence of a disability). This means that once a student attends college, the parent no longer has an automatic right to see their child’s grades or make decisions for them, unless the parent has acquired these rights during guardian advocacy or guardianship by a Florida court. See the Florida Developmental Disabilities Council resource, Developing Abilities and Restoring Rights: A Guide for Supporting Persons with Disabilities for more information. Permission for that access needs to be granted in writing by the student and still may not be honored by the college or university. Many colleges require that the FERPA release be on file and may have rules about parents not using student email to correspond with college personnel.

Parents can prepare for this transition by helping students to use self-determination skills in schools, at home, and in the community that will benefit them at college. Examples include preparing for and engaging in their IEP meetings, bringing questions or requests to the meeting, and reflecting on what the student has discovered about themself as a learner. These steps can help students prepare for similar discussions at college with a disability services counselor or an instructor.

Related to consent issues is the issue of guardianship. When schools notify families and youth with IDD of the coming transfer of rights at the age of majority, typically 18, they often present parents with only two alternatives: 1) transfer decision-making rights to the student, or 2) petition the court to become their child’s guardian to continue to be the educational decision-makers.

What is not always made clear is that this does not need to be an either/or decision. With the right supports, a student with IDD can make educational decisions at college or decide to share decision making with a caregiver.

When considering decision-making at college, students and parents, along with the IEP team, can consider how students can prepare for independent or shared decision-making at college. Explain that students may face issues related to academic performance, residential life, interpersonal interactions, and campus safety. Planning decisions may include the protocol for communicating concerns, as well as the level of support or consultation for addressing issues and resolving problems.

Practice 2: Support parent and student advocacy in preparation for and through the transition IEP (TIEP) process.

In preparing for college through the IEP process, there are a few key considerations to include in the planning. These include student and family participation in person-centered planning processes, preparing students to present their postsecondary goals and education progress to their IEP team, developing a timeline and annual goals with parents to prepare students for college, arranging for transition assessments, and mapping out an inclusive course of study for high school that aligns with student’s goals.

Person-centered planning results in students identifying their strengths, preferences, and vision for the future. Thus, this process can create a roadmap for the IEP team as they choose transition assessments, which can then guide the development of goals and objectives that align with the student’s goals. Understanding a student’s postsecondary goals is important in mapping out an inclusive high school course of study in the general curriculum that will prepare them for college.

What is person-centered planning and why is it important? Person-centered planning is a planning process, facilitated with a student, to determine their strengths, abilities, and interests. It is often a series of meetings held in a person’s home or in a community setting such as a library. Rather than a group of professionals making decisions, person-centered planning relies on the input of the student’s family, community, and social networks. It is this circle of support that a person-centered planning facilitator encourages to share information and resources that can help a student to plan for their postsecondary goals.

An important value in person-centered planning is that an individual’s dreams should not be limited to what disability-related resources are available but rather what is possible through planning with an expanded network.

There are many types of person-centered planning tools available to guide these meetings:

Charting the Life Course: This framework and these tools help organize ideas, visions, and goals, as well as problem-solve, navigate, and advocate for supports.

Project 10’s Person-Centered Planning Resources: Includes descriptions of several popular formats.

Steps for including college goals and preparation in a TIEP:

1. Facilitate person-centered planning with students and families to understand student vision, strengths, and preferences as well as establishing a robust network of support.
2. Support student to present vision and preferences at TIEP meeting.
3. Conduct transition assessments to determine what skills and knowledge a student currently demonstrates related to college and career interests as well as what gaps exist that should be addressed. This may include gaps that increased course access could improve as well as customized work experiences.
4. Include student and family as the team develops relevant goals and objectives that align with student vision to attend college (e.g., increased reading and writing skills, improved study skills, independent self-management skills).
5. Advise student on a course of study in the general curriculum that will prepare them for college expectations.

Practice 3: Orient parents to the supported education model.

An important framework for understanding inclusive postsecondary education is supported education. Supported education is a model of wraparound services that many students, with and without disabilities, may benefit from. The model is based on three principles: 1) increasing individual skills, 2) increasing support from the environment, and 3) maximizing the fit between the individual and the environment.

For college students with IDD, the supported education model takes into account how staff can increase student skills to engage in college as independently as possible, what resources staff can teach students to access at college, and how the student can take advantage of general as well as individualized supports.

The following example highlights supported education at college and how students and parents can prepare for this model:

Practice 4: Prepare parents for student advocacy and foundational skill acquisition.

Teachers and parents can both provide opportunities for students to develop self-advocacy and foundational skills that they will need in secondary education as well as in college. This includes orienting students to the Foundational Skills for College and Career Learning Plan as a structure to prepare students for the academic and career skills, self-determination skills, balancing multiple roles, and navigating school routines that will be expected of them in college.

The Foundational Skills for College and Career Learning Plan can be used as a starting point for planning what skills and behaviors students can be prompted to use early and often in their high school years. As described in Section 2 of this module, foundational and self-determination skills are the cornerstone of student development for college success. Parents can facilitate these skills through allowing their child to make (measured) mistakes and then realize the natural consequences, reflect on their choices and the results, and identify alternative solutions for the next time. This allows the student to experience the “dignity of risk”—something all people deserve.

Most parents can identify times when they rescued their student from a failure that might have become a powerful teachable moment if they had let happen. To help their child build resilience, parents can cultivate these skills:

• Accepting constructive criticism
• Managing tasks and responsibilities
• Demonstrating respect for others
• Taking responsibility for personal actions
• Problem-solving
• Learning from mistakes
• Being flexible
• Advocating for own needs
• Communicating reasons for and against choices
• Managing personal finances

Practice 5: Support families to learn about financial resources for college.

For many parents of students with IDD, saving for their child’s college education was not part of their long-term plan. A college option is exciting, but often comes with program or college tuition and other fees, plus potential program fees for additional supports and services.

Talk to families openly and honestly about college costs and share information about paying for college. There are numerous ways that programs and families are addressing college financing, and often these conversations include adult service agency staff, including vocational rehabilitation counselors and benefits counselors. These discussions might start at a TIEP meeting, and then the parents can initiate follow-up meetings with providers.

One way to reduce college costs is through advanced credit options, through which students earn postsecondary credit while in high school. More information can be found on the Florida DOE’s website under High School Acceleration Programs. Information regarding general dual enrollment can be found on this Florida DOE Frequently Asked Questions on Dual Enrollment fact sheet.