[nabs-l] College Expenses that Blind Students Encounter.

Sat Apr 16 06:13:59 UTC 2016

With my experience in under grad, only a portion of my room and board
was paid for. My accommodations with DSS weren’t very good, scribes
giving notes late and things along that nature, also only had a reader
for a set block and that was it.

Now I’m doing my master’s degree at a different school and DSS is way
better. I am allowed readers whenever I need them and am able to give
an estimate on how long they may be required—DSS pays for the
readers/scribes. However, rehab did not provide any type of funding
for my degree program or the accommodations’ that I requested (a
braille display) for class. They stated the reason they would not
provide the accommodation is because with my bachelor’s degree I
SHOULD be able to find a job, once acquiring a job then they would
provide me the recommendation accommodations’… So, my master’s degree
is funded by student loans and out-of-pocket for the display itself,
along with other things that I may need for other small tings. Also, I
am not on a meal plan, so I have to buy food and stuff as well because
I essentially live in an on-campus apartment, so cooking supplies,
cleaning supplies, food, etc. are all out of pocket as well.

Hope this helps.
Cheers,
Caitlin

On 4/15/16, Ashley Bramlett via nabs-l <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> Christina,
>
> Really? My colleges I attended for my BA only provided readers for tests.
> Readers for essential research projects or visual subjects such as science
> where I needed readers to read/describe diagrams was not provided by either
>
> george mason university or marymount university; GMU is public and MU is
> private.
>
> So, what school do you attend which provides readers? Are they paid hourly?
> Since they are dss employees, does the dss office control what types of
> things they read?
>
> I've had to pay out of pocket for readers.
>
> Thanks.
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Christina Moore via nabs-l
> Sent: Friday, April 15, 2016 7:21 AM
> To: munawarb at gmail.com ; National Association of Blind Students mailing
> list
> Cc: Christina Moore
> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] College Expenses that Blind Students Encounter.
>
> My school provides readers/scribes for as much time as I need.
> I have had expenses related to the costs of having a service dog.
>
> God Bless,
> Christina
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Munawar Bijani via nabs-l <nabs-l at nfbnet.org
> To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
> <nabs-l at nfbnet.org
> Date sent: Fri, 15 Apr 2016 02:40:02 -0400
> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] College Expenses that Blind Students
> Encounter.
>
> Sure.  When I was in university I was sad to discover that VR
> will only
> pay for a reader the equivalent credit hours of the course a
> week.
> Naturally, for math and science courses I needed more than three
> hours
> a week of a reader.  The rest of the cost came out of my pocket.
>
> I paid for four or five readers over the course of my university
> studies.  Had I not been receiving SSDI at the time, this would
> not
> have been possible, because the Pel Grant was insufficient to
> cover
> the expenses.
>
> On 4/14/16, Glenn III via nabs-l <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I?셫 presenting at our IL Spring seminar on college financing,
> and the one
> puzzle piece I?셫 missing is expected college expenses specific
> to blind
> students.  I looked online, and searched NABS archives back to
> 12 months,
> but I can?셳 find what I?셫 looking for.
>
>         While I know some folks anticipate Voc.  Rehab covering
> basically all
> costs, I think it?셲 prudent for a blind student to budget what
> their
> potential expenses are ahead of time, especially if you end up
> not having
> things covered.  I could give examples of my own college time
> (not to
> mention friends who ended up paying out of pocket for things
> that other
> students didn?셳 have to worry about), but I think my
> experience is not
> going to cover important things many blind students encounter,
> so??
>
>
>
> Could people here offer some examples of blindness-specific
> expenses they
> encountered in college that should be budgeted for?
>
>
> Thanks, so much.
> -Glenn Moore III
> State Secretary,
> National Federation of the Blind of Illinois
> (find our calendar at nfbofillinois.org/?page_id=158)
> nfb.org <http://www.nfb.org>   "Live the Life You Want"
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