Practice 1: Utilize campus student services

Student services on a campus include a range of supports that assist students with navigating an array of college expectations and experiences. Students with IDD should be both encouraged and taught to use the array of campus supports available to them.

Examples of student services include:

• Academic advising and support: Campus advisors, in collaboration with IDD program personnel, can assist students to determine appropriate programs of study and regularly serve as a guide on progress toward successful program completion.
• Health centers including counseling programs: Stress and behavioral challenges are common among the college student population including students with IDD. Students should be encouraged to seek out campus mental health resources including the use of regular health check-ups, which are available to students on most college campuses.
• Registrar: This is a campus office that manages student records including academic, financial, and course schedules. Students should be oriented to how and when to seek out their services.
• Bursar: This is a campus office that manages student billing. As students with IDD are responsible for paying tuition and fees in many cases, this is the office through which those tasks are completed.
• Financial aid: The Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008 made students with ID eligible to apply for financial aid to assist with college costs. Eligible students must be attending an approved Comprehensive Transition Program (CTP) and meet the criteria for financial aid eligibility. Pacer’s Parent Center on Transition and Employment notes helpful resources for paying for college.
• Residential life: Some IPSE programs for students with IDD include a residential component, which may be either on or off campus. Many campus residential communities offer social and experiential learning opportunities to residential college students, including students with IDD.
• Co-curricular/Extracurricular activities: After attending classes and studying, many students engage in additional activities that interest them. These opportunities may include student organizations or clubs (e.g., dance, anthropology, running, karate, photography), Greek life organizations, multicultural groups, and civic, leadership, and service programs. Colleges typically have lists of student organizations and activities posted online, promoted through social media, and on billboards around campus.
• Disability Student Services (DSS): As mentioned earlier, DSS provides accommodations and other aids that allow students with disabilities to participate alongside other students in all aspects of the college experience. Students with IDD must register with the campus DSS office to access these services and, in collaboration with program personnel, explore appropriate support options provided by DSS.

Academic and social programs on college campuses are developed to support students with a variety of interests and goals. Career and technical colleges may be more limited in these services than state colleges or universities. Many programs for college students with IDD will encourage and support their students as they use student service programs that align with meeting their needs as students and support their overall college goals.

Practice 2: Prepare for residential life

Some college programs offer the chance to live in campus residential housing. Programs that do not provide an on-campus living opportunity will sometimes assist students and families with seeking and subsequently supporting students in off-campus housing.

Programs will often assist students and families with roommate selection. For example, a new student might be paired with a 2nd-year or 3rd-year student in the program along with a traditionally matriculating student that serves as a mentor. In other cases, there might simply be a campus mentor or support coordinator that checks in with the students a few times a week to help with weekly planning and other daily living matters.

In addition to beginning the college experience, there is an important set of independent living considerations when a student enters adulthood. Independent living skills include self-care skills such as:

• Meal preparation
• Dressing and grooming
• Home and personal safety
• Managing relationships
• Home management including bill payment, financial literacy, and budgeting

One especially important consideration is whether a student will have a family member as a guardian or guardian advocate. Parents and their children, with school or IPSE program personnel as facilitator if appropriate, should have a conversation about guardianship before the child turns 18 years of age. The Federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA; see Module One for more information) stipulates that access to educational documentation regarding the student must have student approval once they turn 18 or enroll in a postsecondary program prior to age 18. Even in these cases, the postsecondary institution is not obligated to adhere to such a request.

College programs for students with IDD vary in their independent living support for students. Choosing a program that does or does not offer campus housing or on- or off-campus independent living support is one of the most significant considerations for students and families as they choose a college. Program personnel, when evaluating whether a student with IDD is a good match for their program, should communicate to students and families in what ways their program is and is not an appropriate option for the student. Most Florida state colleges do not offer student housing, and no technical colleges do.

Independent living opportunities provide young adults the chance to practice critical adult life skills and strategies, including:

• Self-determination: The opportunity to guide one’s life in the direction one prefers. Includes self-advocacy, self-awareness, and problem solving.
• Social networking: Individuals with disabilities have sometimes had fewer chances to engage socially. Postsecondary education programs with residential options can help increase social interaction and involvement.
• Appropriate risk-taking: Sometimes decisions are made for people with disabilities to protect their health and safety. Individuals should be provided support to assess risk and make appropriate risk-taking decisions.
• Development of natural supports: These are relationships developed in the community through employment, recreational, and educational experiences.

Practice 3: Explore campus student life

Participating in co-curricular/extracurricular programs and activities helps students build self-confidence, make new friends, practice important skills such as time management, and get to know one’s personal interests more deeply. Eventually, students might even decide to take on a leadership role in a campus organization.

While studying and attending college classes takes precedence, there are many opportunities to participate in other aspects of college life. These can include:

• Student organizations such as student clubs or student senate
• Organizations and events focused on global or community perspectives
• Community service organizations and programs
• Leadership or civic organizations and programs

Figuring out how to budget time for campus life activities and which ones to choose takes planning. In collaboration with program staff, a student can learn about options at their college. The student should think about their personal interests and how those interests are aligned with campus and community extracurricular activities.

Practice 4: Prepare for competitive integrated employment

A primary focus of college for any student is the development of knowledge and skills that will lead to successful competitive integrated employment, as well as the opportunity to engage in career exploration opportunities that might refine interests and goals for the future. Having access to either on- or off-campus work opportunities, including internships, can facilitate the development of both hard and soft skills, refine preferences, and allow students to gain experience.

The best employment opportunities during college can be added to a resume that can be used in the job search upon graduation. Engaging in employment opportunities while in college also empowers the student to identify what a good job match looks like, how to ask for workplace accommodations, and how to identify any on-the-job supports that might be needed after hire.

Planning and preparation for the job search: There are a range of career planning resources that can assist students with IDD to identify strengths, sources of support, and preferred workplace conditions and cultures. Any effective and meaningful career planning process should always be strengths-based, be led by the student, and ideally include the involvement of friends, family, and professionals whom the student with IDD identifies. Career advisors should work in close collaboration with faculty advisors to ensure that coursework aligns with the student’s future employment goals as a way to create a comprehensive career development strategy.

Conducting the job search: Concrete preparation is also required prior to officially starting the job search. For example, career advising supports on college campuses offer guidance on resume and cover letter development, interviewing skills, and how to find opportunities. These advisors, in collaboration with IPSE program staff, can act as a conduit to postings that are offered through the college’s jobs database.

Many college campuses also routinely advertise volunteering or internships specifically for students. Although typically unpaid, volunteering or interning can be a valuable way to gain job skills and to learn more about an organization or field of interest. However, these should be time-limited experiences as all students, including students with IDD, should be discouraged from working long-term without pay.

Career One Stop is an appropriate resource to use when beginning career exploration, while Employ Florida is a helpful resource for job seeking, resume development, and education and training options.

Seeking support with job searching and job placement: In addition to student services and peer mentors, students with IDD may be eligible for outside employment supports such as those described by the Agency for Persons with Disabilities (APD). Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) provides programs that can give students with disabilities the opportunity to participate in sponsored career counseling, work readiness training, fully integrated work experiences in the community, supported employment, customized employment, and self-employment.

Funded through APD, employment support providers are local community organizations that provide more robust job seeking and job placement support. The student and college advisors can work collaboratively with a job developer from an employment support provider.

Job developers are professionals who work directly with the student with IDD to actively find or develop a job based on skills and interests. A job developer may conduct outreach to their own employer connections, support the student to implement networking strategies (engaging friends, families and others in the student’s network in the job search), and have access to creative job carving (also known as customized employment) and job creation techniques.

VR services can be similar to those described here as well. An effective job placement is one that offers a match between the student’s skills, interests, and preferences and the employer’s workplace need.

Accommodations and on-the-job supports: Career advisors together with IPSE program personnel and DSS staff can support a student with IDD to translate their academic accommodations into workplace accommodations. This may include task modifications, the use of assistive technology, or having one-on-one employment coaching supports. A job coach is a professional provided through APD or VR who provides support to an individual with a disability after they are hired. These supports can range from intermittent to daily. VR services for its customers are time-limited for those who obtain work, unlike APD, which can provide follow-along services for those receiving iBudget / Medwaiver services after employment is obtained.