Ms. Nelson is paying most of her own way at Landmark, a two-year college exclusively for students with learning disabilities and A.D.H.D. She wants to graduate on time this spring, and with tuition and fees alone at $48,000 a year — more than any other college in the nation — she cannot give in to distraction.
“I have a lot riding on this,” says Ms. Nelson, who is also dyslexic. She wants to transfer to a four-year institution and get a bachelor’s degree — a goal that would have been out of reach, she says, had she not found Landmark three years after graduating from high school. If Ms. Nelson gets her associate degree in May after four semesters, she will buck the trend at Landmark.
Only about 30 percent graduate within three years; many others drop out after a semester or two. The numbers suggest that even with all the special help and the ratio of one teacher for every five students, the transition is not easy.
About half of the 500 students at Landmark are recent high school graduates or, like Ms. Nelson, arrive after a period of drifting. Most of the others have tried and failed at college already, coming with the goal of getting the academic or organizational skills they need to succeed at a four-year college or to enter the workforce.
Federal law requires all colleges to provide some accommodations for the learning disabled — tutoring, for example, or extra time on exams — and with the rapid increase in students with diagnosed learning disabilities, many mainstream colleges and universities are trying to serve them better. But they still fall short, experts say, for those who need help not just with study skills like how to take notes and write papers, but also with basic daily functions like getting to class on time. Proactive parents might help these students make it through high school, but they face steep odds once they leave home.
For such students, options are growing. Mitchell College, a small residential campus in New London, Conn., now offers a transition year in which students earn transferable credits while preparing for college life. Beacon College in Leesburg, Fla., like Landmark a degree-granting institution for the learning disabled, plans to add a summer program for college-bound students by 2012 and take 100 more students by 2014.
Among for-profit ventures, the College Internship Program helps 18- to 26-year-olds learn social, academic and life skills, including how to study, manage money and even cook. It is expanding its summer transition program for new high school graduates to each of its locations in five states. Landmark, too, is expanding its summer program, to North Carolina, Oregon and California.
All of these programs are expensive and, given the economic downturn, out of reach for many. This fall, for the first time, Landmark did not meet its enrollment target, with 26 fewer students than planned. “Applications and acceptances were up,” says Dale Herold, the college’s vice president for enrollment management, “but when it came down to paying, the follow-through wasn’t there. The economy this year was like, whoa.”
The drop is a serious matter for a small, tuition-dependent college. Landmark has an endowment of only about $11 million. One reason is that the college is relatively young — it is celebrating its 25th anniversary this school year. Another, officials say, is that alumni are reluctant to donate because of the stigma attached to attending a school for the learning disabled.
Some students struggling in mainstream colleges decide to spend just a “bridge semester” at Landmark to get help specifically with time management and productivity. Mac-Lean Gander, who teaches writing to these students, says many of those in his class are talented writers but routinely fail to show up for class or hand in papers. They are students like Isabel Jacob, 19, who has A.D.H.D. and was asked to leave Salve Regina College in Newport, R.I., after failing three courses her freshman year, and Michaela Brunell, 20, who fell behind at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
“I loved it my first year,” Ms. Brunell says, “but as my classes got more work-oriented, I didn’t have good strategies set up.”
One recent session, she was one of only two students prepared to make a final presentation in Mr. Gander’s class, which explores how A.D.H.D. affects the writing process and helps students deal with their attention issues. Mr. Gander repeatedly reminded the students that their final paper was due that Friday; he seemed concerned that most students were putting off making their presentations until then, too.
“Obviously we’re going to have a long day on Friday,” he says, scanning the faces in his classroom.
Abby Goodnough is Boston bureau chief of The Times.
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