Ivy League schools see explosion in disability accommodations. Special status includes more exam time, mom in classroom. Is the system being worked?

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that 28.7% of U.S. adults have a disability, but on these campuses, the share is even higher (1). More than 20% of students at Brown and Harvard are registered as disabled, while Amherst sits at 34%.

The shift isn’t what many assume. As one professor told The Atlantic anonymously, because he doesn’t have tenure, “You hear ‘students with disabilities,’ and it’s not kids in wheelchairs,” he said (2). “It’s rich kids getting extra time on tests.”

The increase is linked to a rise in ADHD, anxiety and depression plus university policies that have made accommodations easier to get. But critics say this growth raises new questions about fairness, equity and who benefits most.

Who Gets Extra Time

ADHD diagnoses have surged on college campuses over the past decade, and at many elite schools, they now outnumber every other reported disability by a wide margin.

The American College Health Association reported that in 2024, 17.2% of undergraduates identified with ADHD, far ahead of learning disabilities (5.7%), autism (4.9%) and even vision impairments (4.7%) (3).

A major turning point came in 2013 when the American Psychiatric Association loosened its criteria for diagnosing ADHD (4). Instead of requiring “clear evidence of clinically significant impairment,” the DSM-5 allows ADHD diagnoses if symptoms interfere with or reduce academic performance.

The 2008 ADA Amendments Act broadened eligibility, including students with past impairments or those perceived as having one. That opened access to extended time, private testing rooms and other academic accommodations.

But professors and disability researchers say they’re seeing a wave of new diagnoses among students who never needed accommodations before, often those who can afford private evaluations. ADHD testing in the U.S. can cost $200 to $2,500 (5). The result shows up starkly in the numbers: affluent schools report accommodation rates as high as 4.2%, compared with 1.6% in low-income districts (6).

Reporting from the New York Post found that ADHD diagnoses jumped at elite schools as Ivy League campuses reinstated standardized testing after the pandemic (7).

Psychologist Camilo Ortiz says he receives constant requests for ADHD evaluations, while Christopher Rim, founder of college counseling firm Command Education, believes families are “1,000%” gaming the system.

“A student at a private school in Manhattan who all of a sudden gets an accommodation starting in 11th grade can look a little suspicious,” Rim told The Post. “How do these kids get through school from kindergarten to 11th grade getting straight As, without needing any accommodations?”

College professors say they see the same pattern.

“We know that people will act as they are incentivized to act,” Yale cognitive science professor Brian Scholl said. “And the students are absolutely incentivized to have as much extra accommodations as they can under any circumstances.”

On high-stakes exams like the SAT, that incentive is enormous. Extended time can reportedly translate into a score boost of up to 200 points.

Who gets left out?

While some professors worry about fairness, disability advocates tell a different story. Their concern isn’t over students gaming the system. It’s about the ones still going without support.

“I would rather open up access to the five kids who need accommodations but can’t afford documentation, and maybe there’s one person who has paid for an evaluation, and they really don’t need it,” Emily Tarconish, a special-education teaching-assistant professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, told The Atlantic.

Advocates argue rising numbers reflect progress, not abuse. At UC Berkeley, assistant vice chancellor of disability rights Ella Callow sees no downside to more students seeking help. One-third of Berkeley students registered with disabilities come from low-income families.