2020-2022 BIAK Resource Journal 37
Community Living Resources
A. Choosing a College
Training after high school can be obtained from several different
options. Four-year colleges and universities offer Bachelor
degree programs. This is not, however, the only option open to
those seeking a college education. Community and technical
colleges offer Associate degree programs as well as some
Certificate and Diploma programs. Trade schools offer nondegree
programs. When exploring college options, a student
must remember to pursue all possible avenues.
Kentucky Higher Education Assistance Authority (KHEAA)
KHEAA is a public corporation and governmental agency
established to improve students’ access to higher education.
KHEAA administers several financial aid programs and
disseminates information about higher education opportunities.
KHEAA
P. O. Box 798, Frankfort, KY 40602-8926
1-800-928-8926
www.kheaa.com
GoHigherKY.org is a one-step Web site for college and career
planning. This site can be used by high school students, parents,
college students, adult students and guidance counselors. You
can explore campuses, take virtual campus tours, get adult
education information, apply for admission and financial aid
online and run free scholarship searches. This site is sponsored by
KHEAA and The Student Loan People. www.gohigherky.org
KHEAA publications offer information to students of all ages in
planning for and covering the cost of higher education. These
publications are free. Most copies are sent to schools and adult
education programs for distribution. Copies are also available by
request at KHEAA while supplies last or can be accessed in their
entirety in PDF version.
• Getting Ready is aimed at helping high school juniors and
their parents.
• Getting In – Your Guide to Higher Education in
Kentucky addresses preparing for higher education and
provides information about the different types of financial
aid, listing of all degree granting schools in the state,
non-degree granting trade schools, academic majors offered
by each school, areas of study, and college planning checklists.
• Affording Higher Education provides information about
more than 3,600 student financial aid programs for Kentucky
students.
• Adults Returning to School is a guide to higher education
for nontraditional students.
B. Academic Accommodations for Students with Disabilities
Colleges assure that students with disabilities receive equal
access to education by providing services and auxiliary aids in
accordance with statutes in Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act
of 1973 and Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of
1990 (ADA). The office that coordinates these services may be
called the Disability Resource Center or the Office of Services
for Individuals with Disabilities. Accommodations may include
tutoring, interpreters, note takers, and readers as well as assistive
aids such as tape recorders, listening devices, screen readers, etc.
One obstacle that a student with a brain injury must overcome
is created by the symptoms of the brain injury itself. These
symptoms can include memory problems, impairments in
cognitive functioning, communication issues and problems in
executive functioning. Impairments with executive functioning
can be troubling because they attack the ability to perform
the very skills necessary to succeed (i.e., time management,
activity planning, and priority setting). In order to overcome the
obstacles caused by deficits in these areas, a student may require
time-management counseling, peer tutoring and adjustments in
academic requirements.
Students with brain injury seem to succeed in programs which
offer three basic things: 1) a faculty and administration that
understands brain injury; 2) periodic faculty training on the issue
of brain injury, which would serve to update this understanding
constantly and 3) a flexible provision of services.
To judge the effectiveness of the accommodations offered by the
college, a prospective student and his/her family might ask about:
• Are students who have brain injuries currently or have been
previously enrolled and would it be possible to speak with
these students?
• Does the school track students with brain injuries or students
with other types of disabilities that may be similar, such as
learning disabilities or other neurological disorder regarding
graduate school, employment?
• What is the retention rate of students with brain injuries
and/or other similar disabilities?
• What types of in-service support the institution offers
faculty in order to train them to accommodate students with
disabilities.
• Are accommodations determined according to the student’s
Individualized Educational Plan (IEP)? What happens if the
need for additional services was not identified in high school
and there is no IEP?
• Flexibility in granting accommodations. If a program is
obviously not working, would teachers be willing to
formulate a new program, or would it simply be assumed that
the student could not succeed in college?
C. Funding Strategies for Students with Brain Injury
Federal Student Aid Programs
The programs listed below are administered by the U.S.
Department of Education. Not all schools participate in all
federal student aid programs. Check with your high school
guidance counselor or the financial aid office at the school that
you wish to attend to make sure that your school participates in
the federal programs that you are interested in.
/www.kheaa.com
/GoHigherKY.org
/www.gohigherky.org