My 19-year-old daughter is just beginning college. She lacks one state test to receive a local diploma, rather than the IEP Diploma she now has. After one college administered the Ability to Benefit testing, they told her that she could not be admitted there until she receives her local diploma. She has now been accepted at another school and will be starting classes next week. We are being told that she is ineligible to receive any federal or state aid because she does not have a local diploma yet. She does poorly on tests involving comprehension and processing, so I’m not sure that it will ever be any different. Does anyone have any similar experiences or advice regarding financial aid?
Re: Financial Aid for LD College Students
I live in upstate New York. My daughter is enrolled in a community college downstate. We are middle income people, trying to provide our child with a good education. The vocational ed people in our area (VESID) have also told us that she would not be eligible for services until she receives a local diploma. (An IEP diploma is our equivalent of a certificate of completion.)
I’m not finished with this issue, and you raise some interesting points. I feel very strongly that she is being discriminated against because of her disability. We believe in our daughter, who by the way, took mainstream classes throughout high school and has all of the credits except this one exam to qualify for a local diploma; so much so that we are willing to pay for her tuition out of our pockets because this is something that she really wants. It is a hardship, but we had no idea until mid-summer that she would not qualify for financial aid because of her status. We have completed the FAFSA and provided all the information necessary for financial aid. All we want is the same benefit that other students are able to obtain.
Thanks for your input. I’ll keep you posted.
I do not know what an IEP Diploma is. In the good old resource rooms days of lore (when I was a youngster), you either got a certificate of completion or a diploma, so I know nothing of this IEP Diploma. However, if you are a student who has at least a certificate of completion diploma then you can usually go to community college or university on fin aid. I mean, think about it, you can have (I am living proof of this) a high school diploma and a high school transcript full of poor marks and go to a humble University, so why would an IEP diploma or certificate of completion be any different? Where I live in Tennessee, one is not too harshly judged on such things.
l would call your [b]Department of Vocational Rehabilitation[/b] and also call whoever is running this school your child will be starting up at…call the [i]dean[/i], make an appointment, do what you have to do. I mean, no one is going to get a free ride at University just because they are ld. A lot of people think we do, but we do not (I hear that in other states, not Memphis, TN…where I live, but in other states you can get book vouchers and all sorts of things if you are ld and getting your higher education from the [b]Department of Vocational Rehabilitation[/b], so you call them and see what all your State has funding for with regards to all of that, because you never know).
Make the [i]dean[/i] of this school understand that you wish for your daughter to have as [b]fair and as equal an opportunity[/b] to obtain her schooling as all other students do and that you are maybe not able to pay out of pocket for every last little thing. That last bit is none of my business, but I do not know of many folks who have a couple of extra grand sitting around the house for University tuition or anything:)
[b]You go to the top and do what you have to do, read over the Americans with Disabilites Act, and threaten to sue[/b]
Your child can go part time, you know? We are allowed to go part time where it does not affect all too much because of the Americans With Disabilites Act; if this is the school your daughter wishes to attend, then she could always go part time for a bit and you could pay out of pocket, I guess. However, I would raise cain with the dean first.
[b]I AM NO LAWYER,BUT I WONDER ABOUT THIS…[/b]
What I find interesting is that if it is lawful for a student at University to have a reduced course load, where that reduced course load does not affect your eligibility for fin aid or any such thing as that, then I wonder why you child is being told her IEP Diploma is invalid? I mean, if you go where your University gets state and federal funding then every last bit of the Americans with Disabilites Act that jives with your personal situation is valid and true and ought to be followed. So, this sounds odd to me; I mean, you can always get outside loans from your bank to help your child pay for school, you can make the bursar hook you up with a payment plan option and have your child work some in order to help you out…but to be denied fin aid because of your type of diploma makes no sense at all; that is one for the books. I am no lawyer, but that is very much a slippery slope argument with this whole diploma thing…I wonder what tehy say about folks who have GEDS and Certificates of Completion or just a really piss poor high school transcript; all of thsoe types of studentsw qualify for fin aid; like a grant there, a little work sstudy here…so you better raise cain with the dean. Please keep us posted!