At many colleges and universities across the United States, a debate is raging over the student accommodation system, as the number of students who qualify for these services are increasing, including at Kirkwood Community College.
“The numbers have been increasing over the past four to five years,” said Supervisor for Accommodation Services Amanda Thompson. Thompson believed that the increase is due to a combination of factors, including more awareness about disabilities among this generation of students and “national trends post-COVID that have identified more mental health needs.”
Last year, The Atlantic published an article titled “Accommodation Nation,” which argued that “the increase is driven by more young people getting diagnosed with conditions such as ADHD, anxiety and depression, and by universities making the process of getting accommodations easier.” The article cited research of Denison University psychology professor Robert Weis, who found that high school students with disabilities are more likely to enroll in community colleges.
Weis also found that the average number of students receiving accommodations at these institutions has not increased but rather stayed stable at about three to four percent of students.
In contrast, Thompson said that this percentage is slightly higher at Kirkwood, with about 6% of credit and dual enrollment students receiving accommodation services.
Thompson said the accommodation office does ask for documentation as part of the process and require students come in for “an initial meeting where we can sit down and talk with a student about what’s going on.”
She recognized that there are barriers in place to receiving accommodations, including waitlists for community mental health services, so she encouraged students “to reach out and connect with us if they have questions.”
Kirkwood faculty have also noticed an increase in the number of students receiving accommodations.
“I think the number of accommodations has gone up in recent years,” said Kirkwood Faculty Association president Andy Mills.
Mills stated that faculty generally recognize that accommodations are necessary for some students to succeed and they follow each request to the best of their ability as accommodations are required by law.
He stated that some accommodations can be hard to follow or “undermine the purpose of the course,” including, but not limited to, ones requesting recordings of in-person courses or a request for a “speech course where the accommodation is no public speaking.”
It remains to be seen how the percentage of students receiving accommodations will change in the coming years; Thompson cited a current 9% of college students nationwide, down from 11%.
While Kirkwood has largely avoided the debate over this issue that selective schools are having, it is likely that most faculty agree that the accommodations office is doing its best with the resources they have.
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