Toward Requesting Accommodations: A National Multi-Institutional Study

College students with disabilities represent an increasing population of nontraditional students that often experience difficulty in achieving in higher education. This difficulty appears to be related to students with disabilities needing to request accommodations in higher education, unlike in elementary and secondary education where accommodations are provided. In the current study, an instrument, the Attitudes Toward Requesting Accommodations (ATRA), was developed to measure attitudes toward requesting accommodations among college students with disabilities. The results of the current study indicate evidence in support of the sound psychometric properties of the ATRA so that it may be utilized by higher education administrators concerned with the achievement and retention of college students with disabilities. Keywords attitudes toward requesting accommodations, accommodations, transition, college students with disabilities The number of students with disabilities pursuing higher education has tripled over the past 25 years (Rothstein, 2003). Even with this increase in attendance rates, students with disabilities attempt college at a much lower rate than students without disabilities. Approximately 27 % of student