Support Services Success Stories

Daijah is a college sophomore who hopes to become a doctor. She has difficulty commuting to school due to a physical disability and needs to live in on-campus housing in order to access both class and medical care. Before starting her freshman year, Daijah applied to receive services from DRS to help her pay for college. Although DRS agreed to provide Daijah with tuition assistance, she was informed that she could not receive funding to help with her on-campus housing costs because her family home is in the same city as her college. Without assistance from DRS, Daijah was struggling to afford the on-campus housing that she needed in order to succeed in her classes.

Near the end of her freshman year, Daijah got in touch with CAP and explained that she had been told that she was not eligible to receive housing assistance from DRS. CAP informed her that because she has a disability-related need to live on campus, she could request an exception to DRS's general policy against providing funding for on-campus housing to students who live in the same city that they attend school in. In support of Daijah's exception request, CAP helped her obtain medical documentation of her need to live in on-campus housing and drafted a letter to DRS outlining the justification for the requested exception. Daijah's exception request was granted before the start of her second year of school, and she was approved to receive DRS assistance with her on-campus housing and food costs moving forward.