Page 45 - 2024 May report

GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY FINAL REPORT (14)
With regard to employment, graduates and current students generally felt that the pandemic had fundamentally altered the employment sector’s understanding of where work happens, with one former student explaining, “I would just say that the pandemic obviously, had a major impact on like people’s attitude towards working in the office versus working from home.” One current student explained how this had opened up new opportunities that he previously had felt were unavailable:
So one of the biggest challenges of work for disabled people, especially blind people is transportation is getting into that office. I’m kind of restricted, because I’m either going to have to take public transit, or I’m going to have to, you know, do an Uber or Lyft, or whatever. And that was my long standing belief: okay, I’m going to have to limit myself to a really big metropolitan area. But I think what the pandemic is kind of changed, in my view, is the fact that okay, maybe there are, you know, remote opportunities or hybrid opportunities. So that takes off a lot of the pressure of, you know, having to be in office having to figure out how do I get there every day.
Opportunities for Engagement
Considering findings from this study, current related literature, and contextual factors, we offer four takeaways and opportunities for the Foundation’s engagement which could support the Foundation’s goal of helping economically disadvantaged students with disabilities pursue and achieve success in post-secondary education and meaningful employment after graduation. The four takeaways that follow represent a set of items for discussion with State and IHE partners. Each takeaway is supported by the work of the Project RISE research inquiry and thinking from current policy, practice, and research literatures.
Takeaway 1:
Interviewed JSF Scholarship recipients believed that internship experiences were instrumental to their future employment success, but indicated that clearly identified routes to support for internship and employment opportunities were not offered to them.
Opportunity for Engagement 1:
When reviewing new or existing projects, the Foundation might consider their support of college career development programs that emphasize internships or other employment-based experiential learning activities for economically-disadvantaged college students with disabilities.
Takeaway 2:
Interviewed graduates and students showed limited understanding of the sources of their funding of tuition support, especially that from the Foundation.
The mid-summer timetable for the State’s allocation of funds to each SUSF IHE and their disability services office was reported by disability services professionals as being very close to the beginning of the Fall Semester, which limited their ability to communicate and plan with initial and renewing scholarship recipients.
Opportunity for Engagement 2:
Combine efforts with appropriate State officials to provide earlier summer notification to the SUSF institutions of their budgets for the scholarship awards so that disability services offices have more time to determine the allocations to each student recipient (initial and renewing students), share that information with their related University offices (registrar, bursar, enrollment), and notify funded students.
Education / A Powerful force for change Page 43