Students with Disabilities in Higher Education: Enrollment Data, Outcomes, and Inclusion

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimated that, in 2022, 28.7% of U.S. adults had a disability. Despite how common disabilities are, society and institutions sometimes fail to provide adequate accommodations for everyone to participate equally.

College students with disabilities have a variety of experiences. This report shares statistics about students with disabilities in higher education to better understand the prevalence of disabilities and the state of disability inclusion on college campuses.

Throughout this report, it’s important to keep in mind that disabilities may be underreported. In a longitudinal study between 2009 and 2016, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) found that only 37% of students with a disability reported their disability to their college.

According to NCES, 20.5% of undergraduates and 10.7% of graduate students reported having a disability in 2019-2020.

NCES’s count of students with disabilities includes those who reported being Deaf or hard of hearing; being blind or having low vision; having a learning disability; having a physical, mental, or emotional condition; or having difficulty walking or climbing stairs.

Students’ veteran status correlated with higher rates of reported disability. Among students who are veterans, 28% of undergraduates and 20% of graduate students had a disability.

In 2024, the American College Health Association (ACHA) surveyed over 25,500 undergraduate college students and nearly 7,000 graduate and professional program students.

ACHA found that the most commonly reported disabilities among undergraduates were:

In general, fewer graduate students reported having a disability. But the most commonly reported were:

Though not reported on here, the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) also covers psychiatric disabilities, such as anxiety, addiction, and PTSD. You can learn more about the prevalence of these and other mental health conditions in our report, College Student Mental Health Statistics.

Transgender, nonbinary, and gender-nonconforming college students report experiencing disabilities at higher rates than their cisgender peers.

In 2019-2020, NCES data showed that 54% of nonbinary undergraduate college students had a disability, compared to 22% of women and 18% of men students. Among graduate students, 40% of nonbinary students had a disability, versus 12% of women and 9% of men students.

In 2024, the ACHA reported on types of disabilities among college students by gender, including transgender and gender-nonconforming students.

The Center for Research on Disability analyzed 2023 census data to estimate educational attainment levels among adults with disabilities. In the U.S., about 39% of all adults age 25 and over have a bachelor’s degree or higher. However, just about 21% of adults over 25 with a disability have a bachelor’s degree or higher.

Data from NCES shows that students with some disabilities graduate high school at higher rates than all high school students. In 2021-2022, the overall high school graduation rate was about 74%. About 72% of autistic students and 80% of students with a specific learning disability graduated with a regular diploma.

High school students with some disabilities —such as autism and intellectual disabilities — are more likely than those without disabilities to receive an alternative to a diploma, such as a certificate of completion or a modified diploma.

According to the Center for Research on Disability, college graduation rates for people with disabilities have been steadily climbing since 2008. However, the degree-achievement gap between people with and without disabilities was the same in 2023 as it was in 2022 — a 20.4 percentage point difference.

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) helps ensure that students ages 3-21 in public schools can access services and accommodations they may need for learning, including an Individualized Education Plan (IEP). However, IDEA only applies to students before they graduate high school, meaning students with IEPs in high school lose them in college.

College students are still protected by the ADA. The ADA mandates that public and private spaces —including colleges and universities —must provide accommodations, make reasonable modifications, and uphold certain accessibility standards for buildings. These accommodations include accessible ramps outside of buildings, access to note-taking technology, or extended testing time.

However, recent cuts within the Department of Education (ED), specifically the Office for Civil Rights, threaten accommodations and modifications for students with disabilities. Fewer staff could lead to delays in processing requests for necessary accommodations. In addition, layoffs at the Institute of Education Sciences hamper ED’s ability to report on outcomes for students, including those with disabilities.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2024, the unemployment rate for people with disabilities was about double that for people without disabilities (7.5% vs. 3.8%).

The unemployment rate for people with disabilities drops with higher levels of education. Even so, bachelor’s degree holders with disabilities face higher unemployment rates than those without disabilities.

People with disabilities who are employed are more likely to be self-employed than people without disabilities (9.2% vs. 6%). They’re also almost twice as likely to work part time (31% vs. 17%).

Like all students, students with disabilities can receive free financial aid for college, such as scholarships and grants. Sometimes, people with disabilities that impact their ability to work can qualify for student loan forgiveness.

Survey data from NCES’s 2020 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study shows that college undergraduates with disabilities report receiving similar levels of federal grant funding as other students. However, they receive less financial aid from their schools on average and less grant funding overall.

If you’re planning to pay for college, you have options. Complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) to see if you qualify for certain grants.

If you have a disability that prevents you from working and you have student loan debt, you could qualify for loan forgiveness through a Total and Permanent Disability Discharge (TPD).

You could be eligible for a TPD if:

We’ve designed several guides with resources for college students navigating accommodations at their colleges. They are listed below.