On a fall day in Brookhaven, high school senior Daniel Mooney, like many of his peers, walked to his mailbox hoping for the thrill of a college acceptance letter. As he opened the mailbox, a letter from Mississippi State University caught his eye.
“Congratulations, Daniel! You have been accepted to the ACCESS program at Mississippi State University,” it read.
College was a foreign concept to Mooney, whose disabilities were often considered a limitation. However, one phone call in 2012 changed that.
“I was still homeschooling when my parents received a phone call from Mississippi State about the ACCESS program,” Mooney said. “That’s how I got my life started.”
The ACCESS program at MSU is the only Comprehensive Transition Program in Mississippi offered to students with developmental and intellectual disabilities.
The program focuses on helping students to grow in their academic, social and life skills. Each student is immersed in the college experience by living on campus, taking modified college classes and engaging in extracurricular activities.
Every semester, ACCESS students take 12 hours of coursework focused on self-determination, career development, socialization and independent living.
Additionally, students have the option of auditing academic courses that align with their interests and career goals. Outside of the classroom, peer mentors and college coaches reinforce the students’ social and academic integration.
Graduate assistant Amanda Cosgriff said she considers the ACCESS program a holistic approach giving students with disabilities a chance to live on their own.
“We give them everything and anything that we think that they should need to transition into living independently,” she said.
According to Cosgriff, the program is a strategic blend of autonomy and guidance, where sympathy is not the goal. Instead, the program equips its students to advocate for their own needs.
“People outside of the program struggle with remembering that [ACCESS students] are typical students and they’re here for reason,” she said, “If they needed their handheld, they wouldn’t be here.”
Assistant Dean and Director of Student Support Services Julie Capella said the program’s success continues to attract attention.
“In other states, I think people are just looking for programs like this,” Capella said.
While the need is great, the financial burden can limit ACCESS students, whose tuition costs $17,500 per year. Until last year, the cost of tuition fell on the students’ families, except for limited scholarships provided through the MSU Foundation.
However, federal funding through the Mississippi Department of Rehabilitation Services and the Mississippi Department of Human Services now provides PELL grants and work-study programs to eligible students in the United States.
Now in-state and out-of-state students have an equal opportunity to receive funding, which Capella said changes everything.
“Somebody who had not previously been able to come—just because of financial reasons —can now come and participate in the program,” she said.
For most parents, the federal aid is a relief.
“I think there are several students in the program this year that could not have come [without the federal funding],” she said.
Assistant Director of Disability Support Services and ACCESS Coordinator Beca Spencer said there has been an abundance of applications since the program received federal funding. Increased interest has caused families with young children to consider the program for their child’s future.
“The word is getting out and it’s making more things possible for the ACCESS program to continue growing and expanding,” Spencer said.
Spencer said many families of students with disabilities are unaware programs like ACCESS exist.
“There are so many students sitting in high school classrooms right now that think college is not an option and it is,” she said.
When students with disabilities are given a chance their potential is endless, Spencer said.
Students like Mooney are no exception.
Mooney graduated from the ACCESS program in 2015 and now works full-time with the Mississippi State Athletic Department.
“I learned to live on my own,” Mooney said.
