Education Labor a Committee on Health

Promoting College Access and Success for Students with Disabilities Education Labor a Committee on Health

According to research by the Pew Research Center, the value of a college education has never been greater. No matter how you measure it, young college graduates do significantly better than their less-educated peers. College graduates earn higher salaries. They are more likely to work full-time, and they are less likely to be unemployed than their peers who do not attend college. Today, the income disparity between college graduates and those with a high school diploma is wider than at any time since this comparison was first tracked in 1965. Post-Secondary education is a primary goal for more than 80 percent of high school students with disabilities. Sixty percent of young adults with disabilities enroll in post-secondary education, compared to 67 percent of young adults without a disability. Among those who enroll in college, 41 percent graduate compared with 52 percent of those without disabilities; so the gap widens. We must better understand why students with disabilities are more likely to dropout and what will attract them to both enroll and to stay in school so that they are successful. We need to understand the barriers students with disabilities face, and the services and supports that facilitate their success.