College Students Increasingly Claiming They Have Disabilities

Colleges aren't just getting more competitive—they're also bringing in more students with disabilities, at least on paper. A New York Times analysis of government data finds that the share of college students formally registering a disability has jumped more than 50% in a decade, including at elite schools like Harvard, Cornell, and the University of Chicago. At all three, about 1 in 5 students reported a disability in 2024, up from single-digit percentages in 2015. Last year, Stanford saw nearly 40% of its undergrads register with a disability, per the Atlantic.

At other campuses, more than a third of students now qualify for accommodations, such as extra time on exams, distraction-free testing rooms, or note-taking help. Experts point to rising diagnoses of ADHD, autism, anxiety, and other conditions; falling stigma; and families who are now experts at navigating disability law from grade school onward. Supporters say this is long-overdue access, pushing back on the fear that the term "disability" is being stretched. Skeptics, however, worry about an "incentive structure" that may be nudging students to seek unnecessary diagnoses. More here on who's getting help, how colleges are responding, and whether anyone's gaming the system.