Colleges Serving More Autistic Students Than They Realize

As colleges work to improve student success, new research suggests they may be underestimating the size of a much larger student population than previously understood: autistic students.

A new study from Michigan State University examined 731 publications, reviewed 16 common survey instruments used at postsecondary institutions and inspected codebooks from six federal datasets to come up with the estimate that over 280,000 autistic students are currently enrolled in U.S. colleges and universities—three to five times more than previous data suggested. Researchers said many institutions may not realize how many autistic students they serve, making it more difficult to design policies, services and supports that help them succeed.

Brad Cox, associate professor of higher, adult and lifelong education at Michigan State, said earlier estimates of autistic college enrollment relied on decades-old data, leaving researchers and policymakers with an incomplete picture of this student group. 

“It’s hard to serve a population you don’t know is even there, because autism is an identity that isn’t always apparent, isn’t always visible,” Cox said. “As a result, this population, despite all of the broader public attention that has come to autism over the last decade or two, in a college environment, these students are still underreported and underrecognized.”

Support systems lag: The study found that 43 to 47 percent of high school students with autism go on to college, a significant shift from past decades, when postsecondary education was often viewed as an unlikely path for these graduates.

Cox said that change has been driven by earlier autism diagnoses, improved K–12 supports and interventions, and greater awareness of autism, coupled with reduced stigma.

But while more autistic students are enrolling in college, the systems designed to support them have not kept pace, Cox said.

Under federal special education law, K–12 schools are responsible for identifying and supporting students with disabilities. In college, however, support shifts to a self-advocacy model under the Americans With Disabilities Act, meaning students must disclose their disability and request accommodations.

That transition can create barriers for students who are unfamiliar with the process or uncomfortable seeking help, making it more difficult to access the services they need, Cox said.

“Folks who were diagnosed with autism before college, they don’t actually report that identity or seek academic accommodations through a disability service office,” he said. “So we don’t have great data on what works, because many of these students don’t disclose, and we don’t have longitudinal data sets that are cut across institutions.

“And then even those students who get those accommodations often don’t feel like they’re the ones that are most necessary or important or valuable,” he added.

The report estimates that between 3 and 4 percent of students registered with campus disability services offices are autistic. 

Cox said college leaders should take a more holistic approach on campus, so disability service offices aren’t viewed as the sole support system for autistic students. He said effective strategies include working with on-campus housing offices to help accommodate autistic students who may be uncomfortable in a traditional double-occupancy residence hall room. In addition, he said, training faculty and strengthening teaching practices can help.

“Students need multiple means of representation,” Cox said. “That largely comes just from a broader understanding that all of us can and should pay attention when students are requesting our behavior or our environment to be different than what may be typical or historically normed.”

Driven by experience: For Cox, the research is personal. He began studying autism after his son was diagnosed at 4 years old. More recently, Cox himself was diagnosed as autistic—an experience that has informed how he thinks about student success and support systems in higher education.

“When I was an assistant professor, my son was formally diagnosed at 4 years old, and I’ll admit that I was wildly ignorant about autism at the time,” Cox said. “So I did the thing that a lot of faculty members might do, and I said, ‘OK, I need to understand this.’”

Cox later founded the College Autism Network, an organization that connects professionals, researchers and advocates to improve access, experiences and outcomes for autistic college students.

“I realized that most colleges and universities wouldn’t be ready for my son when he got to the spot where he was going to go to college,” he said. “My driving purpose was to make sure, as a parent, that I get him ready for college. But as a researcher and as an academic and a person working in higher education, I felt a strong personal drive and a professional responsibility to make sure that those colleges are going to be ready and able to effectively serve.”

Cox said colleges should take a twofold approach that combines what he described as “proactive intentionality” with “reactive adaptability”—building systems that intentionally support autistic students while remaining flexible enough to meet each student’s individual needs.

“It shows that individuals’ unique needs don’t get forced into some predefined solution, but rather the institutions are willing and able to understand the student, meet them where they are and work with them to adapt not just the student behavior, but perhaps also the institutional environment response,” he said.

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