New York public colleges would accept students’ existing disability records

New York public colleges would accept listed disability records and work with students to decide reasonable accommodations, meaning adjustments that help them participate in college. These rules would cover admitted or enrolled students at the State University of New York and the City University of New York. Accepted proof would include school disability plans, professional evaluations, and military disability records. Colleges could request more proof if a high school disability plan was not active immediately before the student left high school. Colleges could request additional records to decide reasonable accommodations and could use less demanding rules for proving disability. These requirements would take effect January 1, 2028.

The New York Education Department would run a statewide program using student advocates, online guidance, and electronic record sharing to help students obtain college accommodations. The program would help students whose disabilities are established through school disability plans or other accepted documentation obtain support at colleges. The department would obtain any legally required consent before sharing students’ special education information electronically. The program would follow education and privacy laws. The program requirement would take effect January 1, 2028.

Public colleges would explain how students qualify for accommodations. The New York Education Department would conduct program outreach and publish yearly reports. Outreach materials would go to students with disabilities graduating from high school that year and their parents or people acting as parents. Colleges would provide accessible guidance to students, parents, and faculty, including at orientation and on public websites. The program webpage would also use the state’s 12 most common non-English languages among people with limited English skills. Yearly reports would describe participation, assistance, and outreach while following privacy laws. College guidance requirements would start January 1, 2028. Outreach would begin within 30 days of that date and continue. The first report would be due within one year of that date, followed by annual reports.