Higher ed board approves new guidelines for students with disabilities
Apr 15, 2025 | 9:52 am ET
By Maya Mitchell
THE BOARD OF HIGHER EDUCATION unanimously approved new guidelines to help state colleges and universities in Massachusetts run programs for students with disabilities.
The board was charged with establishing guidelines for a law passed in 2022 aimed at creating more higher education opportunities for students with “severe intellectual disabilities, severe autism spectrum disorders and other severe developmental disabilities.”
Under the new law, young people aged 22 and older with intellectual disabilities can participate in higher education opportunities without being matriculated or degree-seeking students and without having to receive a high school diploma, meet minimum GPA requirements, or pass any standardized college entrance or statewide assessment tests. A state program had been in place for these students to take part in higher education programs until they turn 22.
The regulations passed at the board’s April meeting establish how universities should handle program eligibility requirements, course selection, residential housing, student conduct, state grant eligibility, and staffing guidelines.
Out of the state’s 29 public colleges and universities, 15 offer programs for students with severe disabilities.
The Massachusetts Inclusive Concurrent Enrollment Initiative facilitates opportunities for students with severe disabilities, ages 18-21. The state-funded initiative creates partnerships between school districts and public higher education institutions for eligible high school students and allows them to have access to special education services through their districts even though they finished four years of high school.
Through the initiative, students are able to participate in college courses, social activities on campus like student organizations and extracurriculars and paid work and internships. The program aims to help students with intellectual disabilities increase skills, while “maximizing the fit between the individual and their environment.”
The 2022 law now requires public education institutions to create policies on extending opportunities to students 22 and older who age out of MAICEI and their individualized education program, or IEP.
The regulations renamed the program the Massachusetts Inclusive Postsecondary Education Initiative to reflect the change and serve as an umbrella term for both MAICEI and the new post-MAICEI program for students older than 21.
Additionally, the new guidelines specify what education plan is available for students that age out of their IEPs.
Eligible students 22 and older will have their IEPs replaced with a new set with written plans called the “Individual Student-Centered Participation Plan.” Plans are developed between students, their care team, and state agencies such as the Department of Disability Services and MassAbility.
“This represents a step forward in integrating initiatives and approaches from the past but is probably consistent with both the spirit of recognizing the value and importance of access and the complexity of a program that has to be administered on each campus,” said BHE chair Chris Gabrieli.
This article was originally published by News From the States.