Legislation

The Minnesota Inclusive Higher Education Consortium joined Think College in efforts to designate May 1, 2023, as Inclusive Postsecondary Education Day. With this proclamation, May 1, 2023 was designated as Inclusive Postsecondary Education Day in the state of Minnesota.

In 2022, a similar proclamation was made to declare May 15, 2022 Inclusive Postsecondary Education Day in Minnesota.

Introduced several times since 2018, but not passed, this legislation removes several obstacles to enrollment in inclusive postsecondary education and expands inclusive higher education opportunities throughout Massachusetts. Specifically, Massachusetts students with intellectual and developmental disabilities would no longer have to do the following to take part in inclusive undergraduate courses:

This legislation, passed in March 2022, provides $2,000,000 for the Governor’s Higher Education Transition Scholarship Program, to assist students accepted into transitional programs for students with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities at state institutions of higher education. The provisions of this section shall be in effect only from July 1, 2022 through June 30, 2023.

This legislation, signed in June of 2022, establishes the Louisiana Postsecondary Inclusive Education Fund, which will finance the creation of comprehensive inclusive postsecondary education programs at all of Louisiana’s public postsecondary education institutions. The programs must be federally approved, and provide postsecondary degree, certificate, and apprenticeship programs aimed at promoting independent living and employment opportunities. Institutions can use money from the Fund to create, coordinate, and expand their inclusive programs.

This legislation, signed into law in 2022, expands the eligibility terms of the Work Ready Kentucky Scholarship Program to include Kentucky students with intellectual disabilities enrolled in comprehensive transition and postsecondary programs (CTPs).

Introduced in 2022, but not passed, this legislation directs the Iowa College Student Aid Commission to create a scholarship program to support individuals with intellectual, development or learning disabilities. Applicants must be at least 18 years of age and enrolled in an Iowa-based comprehensive transition and postsecondary program (CTP) approved by the U.S. Department of Education. The Iowa College Student Aid Commission will administer the program and establish evaluation criteria for scholarship applications. Iowa applicants will receive priority in scholarship awardee selection.

This legislation, passed in May 2022, created a new inclusive higher education grant program to support IPSE at state institutions. The bill creates a state fund with $450K added annually to support IHE programs at institutions across the state. Awardees are selected by an administering agency chosen competitively by the state.

The South Carolina state budget includes funds to provide needs-based financial aid to students with ID enrolled in one of South Carolina’s CTPs. They are disbursed by the South Carolina Commission on Higher Education. The state budget also allocates lottery scholarship funds to support students with ID who have financial needs and are enrolled in a CTP. Each student may receive a scholarship, called the College Transition Program Scholarship, of up to $5,000 per academic year. In FY 2020-21 and 2021-22, $750,000 was awarded to support needs-based scholarships for students with ID.

This legislation, signed in 2021, establishes that school district payments (integrated formula payments) will be made to postsecondary transitional programs for students who are on IEPs.

The state Superintendent of Public Instruction is responsible for reviewing and approving postsecondary transitional programs, and implementing this legislation by administering the payments. 

This bill was introduced in 2021, but did not pass. This legislation would create the Building Better Futures Program, which funds existing or emerging CTPs in Texas. The program will be overseen by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THBC). In order to apply for Building Better Futures funding, programs must either: Have been granted CTP status by the U.S. Department of Education or be awaiting approval of CTP status. If a program awaiting CTP status is given funds, they must be declared a CTP within 3 years in order to retain Building Better Futures funds.