College students with disabilities: what factors influence successful degree completion?: a case study

The challenges students with disabilities (SWDs) face on college campuses have been examined widely, but little is known about the experiences of SWDs who have successfully completed college. Much of the information that is known about college success and completion is linked to outcome measures for programs that are linked to specific programmatic funding. This report examines the viewpoints of successful SWD completers and the staff from five colleges and universities in New Jersey without regard to particular program and funding initiatives.

This approach yielded a variety of observations about SWDs and promising practices and challenges of the colleges they attended, as well as uncovered areas for further study and development of supports for students, staff, and faculty. Noteworthy was the perspective of both students and college professionals that on-campus services and supports were most critical to college completion.

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