[nabs-l] public versus private universities

[Zach Mason]

Greetings,

 

I'm a junior in high school, and as such, I'm beginning to look for a

college. The other day, a blind friend and I were talking about which

colleges we were checking out, and I mentioned Loyola, which is a private

Catholic university in New Orleans. My friend, whose mother is a professor

at Tulane, another private New Orleans school, said that it was very

difficult for blind people to attend private colleges because they weren't

as good as protecting textbooks and other necessary materials. He said in

general that private universities' disability services weren't as great as

those of public universities. I know this is true for post-secondary public

schools--they're more able to provide braille and technology than are

private schools--so I was wondering if it was the same with colleges. Also,

is there a list that ranks colleges' disability support? I know that

whenever we visit a college, we visit the DS office, but I also know that

those people are often trying to sell their school. So I was wondering if

there was any concrete resource I could use for this information. Any info

or comments would be super helpful and appreciated!

 

Yours sincerely,

Sophie Trist

 

_______________________________________________

 

I have a B.S. from Cornell University. I unfortunately am limited to what
little I've been able to learn from a few month's exposure to other blind
students and graduates and my own experience. When I was picking my college
I applied and was accepted to three colleges; Cornell, the University of New
Hampshire and Pen State. I was intimidated by Pen State's size and wrote it
off. I was very gung ho to go to UNH until I met the disabilities office.
The department head at the time sat me down and started explaining the
differences between accommodations for high school versus the accommodations
for college. It was very off putting. From the meeting I left remembering
more things the office couldn't do rather than could do. Cornell was an
entirely different office. 

 

Rather than tell me what they couldn't do, they told me what they could do,
or what they were willing to try. They were quite positive and very
approachable. To make a long story short, UNH offered me a full scholarship,
Cornell offered enough so I'd pay $10,000 a year. I picked Cornell. Cornell
did have other things going for it, such as more resources and greater
availability to funding, but the sales job the SDS staff did played a huge
roll in my choosing Cornell. 

 

I even have a job after graduating, all be it at my home dairy farm. Now I
am looking to get into graduate school. 

 

Zachary Mason

Assistant Shepherd and Young Stock Manager

Northwinds Farm

(603) 922-8377 Work

(603) 991-6747 Cell

 <mailto:zmason at northwindsfarm@gmail.com> zmason at northwindsfarm@gmail.com 

 

806 U.S. Route 3

North Stratford, NH 03590