Disability Resource Center

Academic Accommodations and Adjustments

Accommodations: Important Information for Students and Instructors

According to the U.S. Department of Education, the appropriate academic adjustment must be determined based on a student’s disability and their individual needs. Academic adjustments may include auxiliary aids and services, as well as modifications to academic requirements as necessary to ensure equal educational opportunity. Examples of academic adjustments are: arranging for priority registration, reducing a course load, course substitution, coordinating note taking support, loaning recording devices, scheduling sign language interpreters, and coordinating extended time for testing (proctoring). Additional accommodations which may be approved include disability-related absences, assignment/deadline extensions, or memory aids, for example.

In providing an academic adjustment, Foothill College is not required to lower or fundamentally alter essential requirements. For example, although Foothill College may be required to provide extended testing time, it is not required to change the substantive content of the test. In addition, Foothill College does not have to make adjustments that would fundamentally alter the nature of a service, program, or activity, or that would result in an undue financial or administrative burden. Finally, Foothill College does not have to provide personal attendants, individually prescribed devices, readers for personal use or study, or other devices or services of a personal nature, such as tutoring and typing.

All accommodations are approved on an individual basis.