The Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008 (HEOA) contains several important provisions that make postsecondary education more accessible and affordable for young adults with disabilities. This is particularly true for students with intellectual disabilities, as the law created new comprehensive transition and postsecondary programs and provided access to federal student aid to this population for the first time. This article presents a brief summary of the original Higher Education Act of 1965, as well as a detailed summary of the HEOA.
Academic / Peer-Reviewed Article
The article discusses a demonstration program, Transition and Postsecondary Education Programs for Students with Intellectual Disability (TPSIDs) and the accompanying National Coordinating Center created by U.S. Congress in 2008. Topics discussed include the awarding of these programs to institutes of higher education seeking to validate an emerging pathway to increased integrated competitive employment and learning and the need to discern long term fiscal impacts on higher education institutions.
In this study a secondary data analysis was conducted using the Rehabilitation Services Administration's 911 dataset. The findings provide an update on the role of Vocational Rehabilitation in promoting participation in postsecondary education for individuals with intellectual disabilities, by providing data that focuses on youth with intellectual disabilities in comparison with youth with other disabilities, and by highlighting differences across states nationwide (i.e., postsecondary education status upon exiting the VR system).
Postsecondary education for students with intellectual disabilities is almost unheard of in the Nordic countries, but several colleges in America, Australia and Europe offer such programmes. These colleges seldom offer inclusive education services; since 2007, however, the University of Iceland has offered a Vocational Diploma in inclusive settings for students with intellectual disabilities.
Postsecondary education programs have increased opportunities for students with and without intellectual disabilities to study abroad as inclusive classes. Using open-coding qualitative techniques, the authors examined an inclusive study abroad group’s daily reflective journals during a study abroad trip to London and Dublin. Three shared categories emerged from analysis: personal development, bonding/social inclusion, and learning from English and Irish adults with intellectual disabilities. Each group reported two distinct categories as well.
Financial, legislative, and philosophical support for postsecondary education (PSE) programs for individuals with intellectual disability has resulted in great increases in the number of such programs across the country. Directors of new PSE programs have few research-based guidelines to provide direction for integrating programs within colleges or universities. In this study, we survey administrators of PSE programs for individuals with intellectual disability across the United States in order to identify perceptions of supports and barriers encountered during program development.
In this comparative case report, graduates from two types of PSE programs for individuals with ID are surveyed regarding employment outcomes and other personal developments. The results from each postsecondary program are compared with one another and also with a comparison group of individuals with IDs who did not attend a postsecondary program (utilizing the 2009 National Longitudinal Transition Study 2).
This study examines the effect of college or university training on earnings of individuals with disabilities receiving services through the public vocational rehabilitation system. The study results may indicate that individuals who received college/university training had higher weekly earnings than those who did not, and had the greatest benefit for young adults; White, Asian, or Native American women with physical impairments; and people with mental impairments.
The present study aims to extend the current knowledge base regarding PSE programs’ and vocational rehabilitation (VR) agencies’ collaborative roles and activities. The present study examines state VR involvement with PSE programs as perceived by PSE administrators, specifically, the extent to which PSE and VR are collaborating, and the roles and activities rehabilitation counselors perform during this collaboration. Findings indicate that PSE administrators report variability in both the levels of collaboration with state VR agencies and the understanding of VR roles.
There has been a great migration of students with intellectual disability (ID) into the college world. The Higher Education Opportunities Act of 2008 (HEOA) has opened the door to postsecondary education to a previously untapped market of students. As a result, programs for students with intellectual disability have been developed around the country to support this historic systems change (Lee, 2009). Along with improved job prospects as one important measure of success, college participation also brings opportunity for personal and social development.