Services for Current Students

Services for Current Students:

Welcome current students! On this website, you will find information about:

  • Services offered by the Disabilities Services Office;
  • Section 504, and the Americans with Disabilities Act
  • Getting and accessing accommodations;
  • Student rights and responsibilities; and
  • Other resources

If at any time you have questions about the information provided here or about your own accommodation process, feel free to contact the Disabilities Services office on the Troy campus at (518) 244-6874 or the Albany campus at (518) 292-8624. You can also e-mail the office at disabilities_services@sage.edu.

To see a presentation that overviews the work that the Disabilities Services office helps students with, look to the far right and click on "Overview [ppt]." There are also two brochures available in the same space, one that discusses accessing accommodations - "Accommodations Brochure [pdf]" - and one that discusses the process for students with disabilities - "Assisting Students with Disabilities Brochure [pdf]."

Accessing Accommodations and Services

The Sage Colleges is committed to achieving equal educational opportunity and full participation for persons with disabilities. It is the policy that no qualified person be excluded from participating in any college program or activity, or otherwise be subjected to discrimination with regard to any college program or activity. This policy derives from the commitment to non-discrimination for all persons in employment, access to facilities, student programs, activities and services.

The College offers many services...

Academic Accommodations:

  • Alternate formats for printed material
  • Assistive technology
  • Noteaking Assistance
  • Sign language interpreter
  • Reduced courseloads
  • Test accommodations

Residential Accommodations:

  • Housing accommodations

Services:

  • Assistance with academic accommodations
  • Accommodations for alternative testing
  • Auxiliary aids and services
  • Facilitate academic and career advising
  • Assist with development of education plan
  • Assisting with getting appropriate academic support services, including some tutoring and use of the Writing Studio.
  • Pre-admission counseling and new student orientation.
  • Referral and liaison services to agenices such as the Commission on the Deaf and Hearing Impaired, Bureau of Rehabiliation Services, Board of Education Services for the Blind, as well as Recordings for the Blind and Dyslexic.

Eligibility for Accommodations:

Any student with a documented disability is eligible to receive services from the Disabilities Service Office. The purpose of accommodations and modifications is to reduce or eliminate any disadvantages that may exist because of an individual's disability. The law does not require college to waive specific courses or academic requirements considered essential to a particular program or degree. Rather, they are mandated to modify existing requirements on a case-by-case basis in order to ensure that individuals are not discriminated against on the basis of their disability.

Procedure for Accessing Accommodations:

Students requesting accommodations should contact the Disabilities Services Office at the beginning of each semester (if not sooner) so that appropraite accommodations can be provided in a timely manner.

Students requesting accommodations are responsible for providing appropriatedocumentation to the Disabilities Services Office in order to verify their need for accommodations.

Documentation must be current, in most cases within three years of the current date or as scientific data prevails and must be submitted by a qualified licensed professional.

Once appropriate documentation has been received, the Disabilities Office will review the request and then meet with the student to discuss appropriate accommodations.

Reasonable accommodations depend upon the nature and degree of severity of the documented disability. With the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 requires that priority consideration be given to the specific methods requested by the student, it does not imply that a particular accommodation must be granted if it is deemed not reasonable.

Student Rights and Responsibilities:

  1. Every student with a documented disability has the following rights:
  2. Equal access to courses, programs, services, jobs, activities, and facilities available through the college.
  3. Reasonable and appropriate accommodations, academic adjustments, and/or auxiliary aids determined on a case-by-case basis.
  4. Appropriate confidentiality of all information pertaining to his/her disability with the choice of whom to disclosed his/her disability to except as required by law.
  5. Information reasonably available in accessible formats.

Every student with a disability has the responsibility to:

  1. Meet the college's qualifications and essential technical, academic, and college standards.
  2. Identify themselves in a timely manner as an individual with a disability when seeking an acommodation.
  3. Provide documentation from an appropriate professional source that verifies the nature of the disability, functional limitations, and the need for specific accommodations.
  4. Follow specific procedures for obtaining reasonable and appropriate accommodations, academic adjustments, and/or auxiliary aids.

For a full explanation of rights and responsiblities, please review the Student Handbook.

Academic Support Test Taking Information Test Monitoring System for Students with Accommodations*

[*-Note: All students eligible for this service are referred to the Academic Support Center by the Office of Disabilities Services. Any student not in our records is ineligible to schedule an exam and will be directed to the Office of Disabilities Services to provide the proper documentation (see "Accommodations" section below).]

Accommodations:

To access services, students must refer themselves to the Director of Disabilities Services and provide adequate documentation from a licensed professional to the Disabilities Office. Since the purpose of the documentation is to assist the student and the college in determining reasonable accommodations (e.g., extended test time, reduced course load, auxiliary aids, etc.), these guidelines must be followed to assure that the diagnostic evaluation report is appropriate for verifying accommodations needs. Specific procedures need to be followed in order to obtain reasonable and appropriate accommodations, academic adjustments and/or auxiliary aids, any deviation from the process may slow down the process or accommodations may not be granted.

Each student must meet with the Disabilities Director with his or her current documentation from a licensed professional to request services. Accommodation letters with be developed at this time. Subsequently, the student should meet with faculty members to discuss his or her accommodations and review these letters. It is best to do this review after class or to set up an appointment with each faculty member. Each student can decide whether to disclose his/her disability (or any pretinent information he/she may wish to share" to the professor. The student is not required to identify his/her disability, although this information is often helpful. Each student may want to explain how his/her disability may affect his/her coursework in general; again, this is not required. After the review of the student's accommodation letter, the faculty member and the student sign the accommodation letter.

Review the accommodations! For testing accommodations it is important to check in again with the professor at least one week before the exam date as a reminder and to be sure both parties have the same understanding of what is to occur. Throughout the semester, the student should regularly meet with the professor as necessary to discuss his/her accommodations needs. (Adapted form: Appendices, The Sage College of Albany Catalog.)

Scheduling Exams:

  1. The student is given exam schedule options from professor.
  2. The student informs the Academic Support Center (ASC) Secretary and a Test Accommodation Request Form is filled out. Requests should be submitted at least 5 (five) business days prior to the intended test date (in order to provide optimal service), especially if the student requires the use of a Reader. Readers are "on-call" and need to be contacted in a timely fashion to insure their availability.
  3. The ASCAdministrative Assistant will schedule a room for the exam with the student, and make arrangements with the professor to have the exam delivered to the Academic Support Center prior to the exam. If a reader is needed. The ASC Secretary will schedule a reader and room for the exam, notify the student, and make arrangements with the professor to have the exam delivered.
  4. The student will take the exam in a monitored testing environment (with a reader, if necessary).
  5. Upton completion of the exam, the ASC will return the exam to the Professor in accordance with the instructions ensumerated in Section 4 of the Test Accommodation Request Form.