Post Secondary Education
Continued education after high school often leads youth and young adults with disabilities to greater success in entering a career. Educational opportunities range from universities, community college, trade and technical schools, and training programs. It is important to know the entrance criteria, disability documentation requirements to qualify for accommodations, range of disability support services, and financial aid. This section of our website provides resources, supports and services related to post-secondary education and training.
Click on the following links to learn about post secondary education and training
Pennsylvania Specific:
- College Options (in Pennsylvania) for People with Disabilities
- Post-Secondary Education Considerations for Youth and Young Adults who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing
- Getting Them There: Easing the College Transition
Featured Media:
Post Secondary Education
Skills and Strategies
- Describe what classes you enjoy
- Explain your likes and dislikes in and out of school
- Demonstrate problem solving strategies
- Identify your learning style
Post Secondary Education
Skills and Strategies
- Demonstrate time management skills
- Demonstrate organizational skills
- State the requirements of high school classes and your options for high school programs/courses of study
- Explore the acceptance requirements for postsecondary schools
Post Secondary Education
Skills and Strategies
- Develop graduation credit plan
- Explore and visit postsecondary school
- Understand which areas you need for support – explore use of assistive technology
- Understand actions and consequences
Post Secondary Education
Skills and Strategies
- Begin more specific post-school planning-college vs employment
- Discuss entitlement vs. eligibility issues
- Actively participate in high school scheduling `
- State prerequisites for further training -PSAT-SAT-CTE-assessment
- Investigate scholarship opportunities and funding sources
Post Secondary Education
Skills and Strategies
- Take college entrance exam
- Maintain academic success
- Complete college applications
- Participate in a college prep program
- Apply for scholarship opportunities and funding sources
- Contact disability services office(s)to determine needed documentation and available supports
Post Secondary Education
Skills and Strategies
- Finalize postsecondary education/training plan, including documentation
- Understand and use the Summary of Performance
- Coordinate services and supports with disability services
- Meet with instructional staff regarding needed accommodations and supports
Resources
- Think College: College Options for People with Intellectual Disabilities
- The Think College! website is designed to share current information, provide resources and strategies, and give the users ways to talk to others. The information is for transition-age students as well as adults attending or planning for college.
- Pennsylvania's Initiative on Assistive Technology (PIAT)
- Pennsylvania's Initiative on Assistive Technology (PIAT) strives to enhance the lives of all Pennsylvanians with disabilities, older Pennsylvanians, and their families, through access to and acquisition of assistive technology devices and services, which allow for choice, control and independence at home, work, school, play, and in their neighborhoods. This website directs the user to PAIT's resources and services.
- Transitioning to College Tip Sheet for Students who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing
- Transitioning from high school to a post-secondary educational environment is exciting but challenging for all students. Students who are deaf or hard of hearing often face different and greater challenges than typical students. This PEPNet tip sheet is one in a series of publications that addresses services provided to students who are deaf or hard of hearing. It discusses the challenges faced during the transition from high school to the post-secondary educational environment. It also addresses many questions that deaf students, in particular, may have about this period of transition.
- Vocational School Tip Sheet for Students who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing
- This PEPNet tip sheet provides information regarding the factors that a student who is deaf or hard of hearing should consider when choosing a professional, trade or vocational school for careers such as EMT (Emergency Medical Technician), massage therapy, firefighting, truck driving, and others?
- Transition Skills Guidelines for Youth and Young Adults who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing
- This resources from Gallaudet University's Laurent Clerc Center National Deaf Education Center provides K-12 Guidelines regarding transition related skills for youth and young adults who are deaf/hard of hearing.
- Reasonable Accommodations, Rights and Responsibilities in College/Tech School
- During this panel presentation filled with vignettes and role plays, the presenters will follow a young girl, Penny, as she transitions from high school graduation to adult life. As we greet Penny, she has met with her OVR counselor, and with some information from an advocate at the Client Assistance Program, she has chosen a vocational goal and is looking at colleges. As Penny continues in her transition, she has some questions about differences in accommodations between high school and college/tech schools, how to advocate and obtain accommodations through disability services offices, and how to coordinate between OVR, financial aid offices, and disability services offices. One of the presenters, an attorney, will share resources concerning The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADAA) as amended and the Rehabilitation Act and the protections those laws may provide in post-secondary education.
- There is No IEP in College
- How is Section 504 for post-secondary education different from IDEA in high schools? What accommodations will youth and young adults have at community colleges, colleges, or universities in Pennsylvania? What can I do to better prepare youth and young adults for success in college? This session will provide valuable information to youth and young adults, family members, higher education professionals, secondary educators, vocational rehabilitation professionals, and agency stakeholders.
- Easing the Transition to College: Tools to Help you Get your Students to College
- While millions of students make the transition from high school to college each year, the information required to help a student get to college continues to get more complicated. Materials to help career and technical instructors assist students to earn Students Occupationally and Academically Ready/Program of Study (SOAR/POS) free college credits and information to help school counselors aid parents and students in selecting a college, completing the preparation steps, and actually transitioning to college are collected on a single Pennsylvania-focused website. This website, www.GettingThemThere.com, is a single entry point in finding everything the instructor, counselor, parent or student needs to support a student from a Pennsylvania high school/Career and Technical Center to college. This session will provide an overview of this web-based resource for Pennsylvania educators.
- College Resources for Students with Disabilities Guidebook
- With more adaptive technologies and progressive legislature, prospective college students with disabilities have countless resources available to make the transition to higher education less stressful.
- Scholarships and Fianncial Aid for Students with Disabilities Guide
- We've created a complementary guide to scholarships and financial aid for students with disabilities to help students and their families better understand the vast number of financial aid options available to them. Key elements of the guide include: - A comprehensive review of all of the scholarships available, listed by disability - Amounts awarded and deadlines for each scholarship - Debt-forgiveness options for those who acquired a disability post-graduation
- Assessments and Supports
- Assessments and supports for youth with autism
- Alexander Graham Bell Association: College Transitions
- Three college graduates who are deaf or hard of hearing share their perspectives on researching, choosing and transitioning into a college or university.
- Explore Your Future: Deaf and Hard of Hearing high school students
- Explore Your Future (EYF) is a six-day career exploration program at Rochester Institute of Technology for college-bound deaf and hard-of-hearing high school students who will be in their junior or senior year. This program focuses on personal growth and career awareness for students as they begin to think about college
- National Technical Institute for the Deaf
- The primary mission of the National Technical Institute for the Deaf is to provide deaf and hard of hearing students with outstanding state of the art technical and professional education programs, complemented by a strong arts and science curriculum, that prepares them to live and work in the mainstream of a rapidly changing global community and enhance their lifelong learning.
- Pepnet2: Deaf and Hard of Hearing
- Pepnet2 is an organization and website dedicated to improving postsecondary outcomes for individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing, including those with co-occurring disabilities. The website contains classes, training modules resources and professional communities related to postsecondary education. It includes information for high school students who are college bound.
- Map It! What Comes Next (for students who are deaf or hard of hearing)
- This is a free, online, interactive training designed for transition-aged students who are deaf or hard of hearing. The training utilizes three questions: 1. Who Am I?, 2. What Do I Want?, 3. How Do I Get There? Video vignettes signed in ASL with spoken English and written transcription, self assessments, and a series of interactive questions guide students as they identify their goals and develop strategies to achieve them.
- Discover Your Future
- A summer program designed for 10th - 12th grade college-bound deaf and hard of hearing students who want to learn more about themselves, their skills, and potential careers.
- April 27, 2016 COP Transition Webinar Assistive Technology for Youth with Complex Needs
- This PowerPoint accompanied the April 27, 2016 Transition COP webinar regarding Assistive Technology for Youth with Complex Needs. Assistive Technology (AT) is an essential component of success for transition-age students with complex needs. Students who have the opportunity to experience and use a variety of tools in school for such tasks as communication, organization, navigation, and recall are more likely to transition successfully to adult life. This session will provide participants with a fresh perspective on the role of AT in transition as well as provide guiding questions and suggestions for addressing AT during multiple points throughout IEP development.
- Strategies for Higher Education Success
- This recorded webinar addresses strategies for preparing students to successfully attend and complete a post-secondary college or training program. Included in this session is information regarding Pennsylvania specific programs designed to assist youth and young adults with disabilities in this process.
- Entitlement vs Eligibility: Family 1-Pager Guide
- School-age students with a disability receiving special education services are ENTITLED to receive services to access a free appropriate public education as outlined in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). However, ELIGIBILITY for services and supports for youth once they exist school is determined thought the requirements of the agency outside the public school system. This family friendly 1-page guide describes the differences between entitlement and eligibility for services.
- Exploring the Option of Two and Four Year College; Family 1-Pager Guide
- When considering a two or four-year college, it is important for youth to self-advocate for needs and live as independently as possible. This family friendly 1-page guide describes considerations for discussions family members may have with you considering college options.
- Post-Secondary Education Expectations: Family 1-Pager Guide
- This family friendly 1-page guide describes difference between high school and post-secondary education.
- Pennsylvania Deaf-Blind Project -
- New Page
- Master List of Resources
- TD Post-Secondary Education
- This Section of the Transition Discoveries Guide addresses effective practices for Post-Secondary Education
