Inside The New Academic Divide On College Campuses
A new Atlantic report finds that disability accommodations — such as extra test time and distraction-free rooms — are increasingly concentrated among students at elite universities and from wealthier families.
At Stanford, nearly 40% of undergraduates are now registered as disabled, with Brown and Harvard around 20%. Community colleges have seen no comparable rise, with about 3-4% of students receiving accommodations.
Nationwide, about 25% of Americans of all ages report having a disability.
Researchers say roughly half of four-year college students seeking accommodations had no prior diagnosis before arriving on campus.
At the same time, academic readiness appears to be slipping. A recent analysis of freshmen at the University of California, San Diego (ranked sixth among public universities by U.S. News & World Report) found that about one in eight freshmen lack basic high school math skills.
BEHIND THE ACCOMMODATIONS
ADHD diagnoses are climbing among children, even those far too young to be concerned with extended test time.
At the same time, there are reports of some families hiring private evaluators or exaggerating symptoms to secure academic advantages.
It echoes concerns raised during the 2019 “Varsity Blues” scandal, which included prosecutors uncovering that parents sought doctors to diagnose their children with learning disabilities (when they did not have one) to obtain test accommodations.
Disability advocates caution that fraud is rare, adding that many students with genuine disabilities still don’t receive the accommodations they need — especially students from low-income families, as testing can be thousands of dollars out of pocket.
Critics on the other hand fear the system designed under the Americans with Disabilities Act (1990) to ensure equal access is being misused in ways that may widen inequality.
THE KIDS AREN’T ALRIGHT
It comes as students score higher than ever on AP exams, even as the data suggests they may not be learning more. Standardized exams have gotten easier over time, boosting pass rates and fueling grade inflation that continues into college. Critics warn the trend is eroding the nation’s long-term human capital.
Back at UC San Diego, the university added a middle- and elementary-school level math course to support struggling students — even though 94% of those enrolled had taken advanced high-school math and earned an average A-.
During COVID-era school closures, many universities scrapped standardized testing requirements. Some are now beginning to bring them back as colleges confront growing numbers of admitted students who lack basic academic skills, raising a more difficult question: do today’s measures still reflect students’ true abilities?