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What Happens Once I Submit My Accommodation Request?

Once we have your request for accommodations and your documentation, it needs to be reviewed.  We have to match the college-appropriate accommodations to the needs that you and your documentation have identified.

The standard process for academic/classroom accommodations is for our staff member (Specialist) to identify some likely accommodations, invite you to a conversation, review those suggestions together and agree on a formal plan.  We may suggest accommodations that you hadn’t thought of.  Occasionally, students have ideas that we haven’t thought of but that are within the bounds of reason and good practice, and we have incorporated them.  Not all great ideas are doable, for many reasons, but if you have one, mention it, and we’ll consider it.

When the accommodations are settled, they will go into a document called the Accommodation Memo. This is a memo addressed to “Faculty” but it is emailed to you for you to send, at your discretion, to your faculty.  Starting in the Spring 2023 semester, the accommodations management system, Accommodate, will communicate your accommodations to your faculty for their review and acceptance.

Please note: The Accommodation Memo does NOT identify your diagnosis.  It only states that you have a verified need for accommodations, and then lists the accommodations.

Timing:   Accommodation memos are often made available right before the start of the semester.  Many faculty do not actively check their TCNJ email over the summer and winter breaks, so no time is actually lost.

Once you have sent your accommodation memo to your faculty, we strongly recommend that you and your faculty member discuss how these accommodations are to be implemented.  For example, with an accommodation for extended time for testing, both professor and student should discuss how that will be arranged (i.e., can the professor and student stay after class to complete the extended time? and if not, what are the alternatives?).  These discussions need to happen at the beginning of the semester, not the day before the exam.  Another example:  Do you have an accommodation for copies of your instructor’s class notes?  You and your faculty member need to discuss how you are to get them and how soon after class. You don’t want to be three weeks into the semester before getting these notes.

The instructor is to review the Accommodation Memo, the two of you are to discuss the implementation, and then, with those details worked out, the faculty member can email arc@tcnj.edu with their note of acceptance and a copy of the memo attached.  Once the faculty member has agreed to the memo, the professor is obligated to provide the accommodations.

If your situation is very straightforward (as identified by you and your documentation), we may simply skip straight to drafting a memo with appropriate accommodations and sending it to you for your review.  If, after reviewing it, it seems fine to you, then go ahead and use it (send it to your faculty).  If you have questions, concerns, revisions, additions to suggest, etc., then, by all means, let us know and we’ll set up that meeting or phone call.  In short, if we can save time for you and us, we’d like to do that, but not at the expense of your desire to be heard and to understand what is going on, so don’t hesitate to reach out to us.

How long is it good for?  The duration of your academic/classroom accommodations will be noted on your accommodation memo.  It may include one or more semesters (i.e., Fall 2022 and Winter 2023).  Once it expires, the student must use their Accommodate portal and select Semester Request, under the Accommodations tab.

Non-Academic/Classroom Accommodations: ARC is your single source for accommodations.  If you need accommodations for Housing, Parking, Dining, ESA/Service Animal or anything else, we will reach out to the appropriate partner and get those accommodations lined up — you don’t have to go to each department yourself.  Seeing your accommodation request in our system, we will reach out to you to get these accommodations started. Again, if you have additional information to give us, or if you have questions or concerns, please email us and let us know so that we can respond accordingly.  In late January, housing accommodations need to be renewed; you’ll see information (an email blast and a headline on your accommodation portal and the ARC website) about the process for that.

Getting back to your accommodation portal:  Bookmark this link:  tcnj-accommodate.symplicity.com; it will get you back to your portal. This is the place where you can add requests (see below), check for announcements, upload additional documentation, schedule exams for ARC proctoring, etc.

Adding new accommodation requests.  Did you forget to mention an accommodation that you want?  Do you have a new accommodation need? There is a way to add it — don’t fill out a new accommodation form.  Instead, go to tcnj-accommodate.symplicity.com to get back into your portal.  There will be a menu on the left; select Accommodation and on the sub-menu, click on Supplemental.

We hope this answers many of your questions, but don’t hesitate to contact us at arc@tcnj.edu  if you have other questions or concerns.

 

 

Contact

Accessibility Resource Center (ARC)
Roscoe West Hall, Suite 202
The College of New Jersey
P.O. Box 7718
2000 Pennington Rd.
Ewing, NJ 08628

609.771.3199

609.637.5082 FAX
arc@tcnj.edu

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