Kate Worden, 18, a senior at Deering High School, talks to a reporter about her college goals. A bill recently introduced in the Maine Legislature would provide grants for students with autism and intellectual disabilities to go to college in Maine. Ben McCanna/Portland Press Herald

Kate Worden is a busy high school senior. She plays basketball and volleyball, runs track and leads Deering High School’s chapter of the nonprofit Best Buddies. She also works two jobs, is busy with her senior capstone project, and volunteers at her church. So of course, she has her sights set on college.

But Worden, who has an intellectual disability, has limited higher ed options Maine, where few colleges and universities have what she needs: an Inclusive Postsecondary Education, or IPSE, program. These are higher education programs for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities, housed within colleges and universities, usually with their own admissions process and special support systems.

A bill before the Maine Legislature this session would provide grants to five colleges to create these programs and offer scholarships for disabled students. A version of the bill passed the House and Senate last year, but never got a hearing in the appropriations committee. Advocates are hoping it gets another chance this year.

EXPANDING OPPORTUNITIES

Carrie Woodcock, president of the Maine Parents Federation, said Gov. Janet Mills’ free community college program opened affordable higher education up to many Maine high schoolers, but not all of them.

“In our state, for individuals affected by intellectual/developmental disabilities or autism spectrum disorder, that programing isn’t accessible to them,” she said. “There’s nothing in the state of Maine with that equivalent opportunity, for individuals to have that type of education after they either graduate or age out of high school.”

Woodcock said there are 965 students in Maine with intellectual disabilities and 3,813 students with autism, according to the latest state data on K-12 public school students. She said colleges might offer some accommodations, but students who are developmentally disabled often need a fully modified curriculum.

Those students usually aren’t working toward a degree, but might be earning a certificate, auditing classes or gaining workforce skills. They’ll often need support, from an administrator or peers, to safely live on campus and complete work.

That’s why she worked with Scarborough Democrat Rep. Kelly Murphy to craft LD 46, which would give Maine colleges money to create inclusive programs. It would provide five $100,000 competitive grants, available to both public and private colleges, to start up IPSE programs. That grant size is based on the reimbursement rate for the state’s community college program, and an estimated 50 students. A quarter of the funding would go toward student scholarships.

“It’s not an extraordinary amount to get these programs up and running, and the impact will be largely positive for all those who come in contact with it,” Woodcock said.

IPSE programs, she said, can also benefit the general student body.

“Studies do show that when individuals with intellectual/developmental disabilities are included into typically developing learning environments, their rate of learning is increased by 55%,” she said. “But their typically developing peers around them, their rate of learning is increased by 17%, by having that experience.”

After the bill failed to progress during the last legislative session, Woodcock said, the Maine Department of Education did agree to set up a $100,000 program at the University of Maine at Farmington. Samantha Warren, a spokesperson for the University of Maine System, confirmed that a program for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities is in the works, although in the earliest stages of development. 

Warren testified in support of the bill last year and said she expects to provide similar testimony this session.

‘EVERYONE SHOULD HAVE A CHANCE TO GO TO COLLEGE’

Kate Worden takes both special education and mainstream courses at Deering. She wants to find a college program with similar accommodations.

“My goal is to go to college, and find a program that can support me. And it’s hard, but I’m definitely not giving up, because I believe that everyone should have a chance to go to college and be with typical peers and feel included,” she said.

Kate Worden, 18, a senior at Deering High School, talks about her college goals, while her mother Kelly Lannon looks on. Ben McCanna/Portland Press Herald

Worden wants to be a therapist, and she’s eyeing an IPSE program at Villanova University in Pennsylvania called VUnited Scholars. She would live in a dorm and participate in work opportunities while taking a mix of classes among the general student body, as well as specialized courses. She wants to play intramural basketball, and possibly join a sorority.

It’s too late for Worden to benefit from LD 46, but she and her mom, Kelly Lannon, are both advocates for the bill. Lannon said having IPSE programs in Maine would open the opportunity of college to a whole new population.

“Not everybody has the resources or the ability to leave the state. It’s a really big deal that Kate will be traveling by plane to get to school,” Lannon said. “There’s children that would not be able to travel like that, for one reason or another, and not having the opportunity to model after typical peers is a disservice to them.”

Lannon said with her older son, the college search was focused on things like location and academic programs. “But then when it came time for Kate to start pursing that, which is something she’s talked about pretty much all her life, it was a different process. We didn’t have the opportunity to say ‘Oh gosh, I’d love to learn about sociology, or actuarial science.’ Kate didn’t have those options. She has options based on the type of education she was looking for,” Lannon said.

There is one IPSE program in Maine, the Integrated Studies Program at Saint Joseph’s College in Standish which launched in 2023; Lannon said she and Worden were looking for something more established. There’s also a program at Southern Maine Community College, although it didn’t have the modified curriculum they were seeking. With more options in Maine, Lannon said, students like her daughter could base their educational choices on typical factors.

Woodcock said she’s preparing for the worst but hoping for the best as the bill takes its second journey through the Legislature. She knows the governor is already warning about a tight budget. But she said the bill has a pretty small price tag in the scheme of things, and would have an outsized positive impact. She’s encouraging impacted families, especially students, to speak out once the bill has been scheduled for a public hearing.

“There are no negatives, there are only positives,” she said. “It just increases their ability to have as independent of a life as they wish to have, and have experiences just like their peers.”