Accessibility and Accommodations

1. Information regarding accommodations for applicants or students with disabilities is available on the Galen website, in the Student Catalog and by contacting the campus admissions office or Section 504/Title IX Coordinator.
2. Any applicant or student who wishes to request an accommodation may do so by contacting the Section 504/Title IX Coordinator.
3. The student is expected to provide Galen with pertinent documents from an external treatment professional*, such as a physician, licensed psychologist, or psychiatrist. These documents alone may not be sufficient to establish eligibility but will be used in evaluating the student’s request and will assist designated Galen representatives to assess the student’s condition. These documents will be kept confidential, in accordance with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).
4. Official documentation from the student’s external treatment professional* should include at least the following information:
   • A diagnosis of the student’s condition and onset of same;
   • Severity of the condition and if intermittent, explain when the condition arises and its impact on functioning;
   • Impact of the condition(s) on major life activities in comparison with most people in the general population;
   • Functional limitations associated with the condition(s);
   • Specific recommendations for accommodations, with rationale for recommendations, in any placement setting.
5. Depending on the nature of the condition, documentation may need to fall within a certain time frame. Most conditions will need to be assessed during adulthood. Galen recommends that documentation generally be no older than three years. However, a condition that is not likely to change over time will not necessarily be subject to such a timeframe. In contrast, with respect to certain health and mental health conditions that may be active and require accommodation adjustments, Galen reserves the right to require documentation as recent as six months. Students are encouraged to consult with the campus’ 504 coordinator before securing additional documentation that may not be necessary. In all cases, the documentation should include recommendations for reasonable accommodations that may be necessary to address a student’s current functional limitations.
6. The student must meet with a Galen counselor to discuss the request for accommodations. If the documentation is incomplete, the counselor will inform the student of what is missing. For an appointment, contact the campus Section 504/Title IX Coordinator.  Accommodations will not typically be afforded until these steps are completed.  Therefore, Galen recommends that the student proceed to collect the necessary documentation during enrollment to the College. When the counselor or campus representative has confirmed that proper documentation required to receive an accommodation is in place, the counselor will arrange for an official notification to be provided by the Section 504/Title IX Coordinator to the student’s faculty for the current term (and program director, if applicable). Specific accommodations will be named in the notification.  The student will be notified of the accommodations to be provided.
7. Once the student’s faculty has been notified by the Section 504/Title IX Coordinator that the student is eligible for disability accommodations, the student is expected to review implementation of required accommodations with their course faculty as early in the term as possible.
8. At the end of each academic term during which the student is enrolled at Galen, the student is responsible for requesting that notification about his or her eligibility for accommodations be sent to his or her faculty for the following academic term. Depending on the nature of the student’s condition, accommodations may be altered. The student must submit the notification request in writing to the campus Section 504/Title IX Coordinator.
9. Questions or concerns may be directed to the Section 504/Title IX Coordinator.

* An external treatment professional is defined as a healthcare professional qualified in the diagnosis and treatment of learning, emotional, health, or physical disabilities.