The Student Disability Center (SDC) supports students with permanent and temporary disabilities, which can include physical disabilities, chronic illness or health conditions, mental health conditions, and learning disabilities. The following tables examines the characteristics and success outcomes of the students the SDC served in the SM23, FA23, and SP24 terms.
The SDC serves over 3,000 students each fall and spring. Among both undergraduate and graduate students who received services from the SDC, about 7 in 10 were female and more than one-quarter were racially minoritized. At least 9 in 10 undergraduate and graduate students were in good academic standing at the end of term. On average, undergraduate students passed at least 90% of the credits they attempted, graduate students passed about 95% of their attempted credits. When compared by accommodation status, students with accommodations attempted more credits per term than those without accommodations (undergraduates about 2 additional credits and graduate students about 3 additional credits). Undergraduates with accommodations were slightly more likely to be in good academic standing at the end of the term compared to those without accommodations; academic standing among graduate students was similar between those with and without accommodations.
Additional details regarding the characteristics and outcomes of students served by the SDC follow, including Table 1, which displays the number of students served by the SDC by term and student level. Table 2 and Table 5 display the demographic characteristics for the unique students served over the course of the prior three terms; data reflect a student’s most recent term of enrollment. Additional tables explore the end-of-term student success metrics for students served by the SDC including end-of-term GPA; academic standing; D, F, or W grade rates; and percent of attempted credits passed for undergraduate (Table 3) and graduate students (Table 6). Success outcomes are also compared by accommodation status (Table 4 and Table 7).
Findings
About 600 students received support from the SDC in SM23 (537 undergraduate and 69 graduate students). In the fall and spring terms, the SDC serves about six times as many students each term (about 3,000 undergraduates and about 400 graduate students). Overall, about 1 in 9 undergraduate students and 1 in 16 graduate students received services from the SDC last year.
Table 1. Number of Students Served by Term and Student Level
| Student Level and Class | SM23 N = 606 |
FA23 N = 3345 |
SP24 N = 3677 |
| Undergraduate | 88.6% (537) | 88.2% (2,949) | 87.8% (3,228) |
| Freshman | 10.4% (56) | 30.1% (888) | 22.2% (717) |
| Sophomore | 14.7% (79) | 21.3% (629) | 23.0% (742) |
| Junior | 25.7% (138) | 21.5% (634) | 23.6% (763) |
| Senior | 47.9% (257) | 26.2% (772) | 30.3% (978) |
| Post Bachelors | 1.30% (7) | 0.88% (26) | 0.87% (28) |
| Graduate | 11.4% (69) | 11.8% (396) | 12.2% (449) |
| Graduate Non-Degree | 5.80% (4) | 4.29% (17) | 3.79% (17) |
| Masters | 69.6% (48) | 49.5% (196) | 50.3% (226) |
| Ph.D. | 23.2% (16) | 24.0% (95) | 25.2% (113) |
| Professional | 1.45% (1) | 22.2% (88) | 20.7% (93) |
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In 2023-2024, SDC served 3,611 unique undergraduate students (see Table 2). More than half of these were upper divisions students and a majority were female or nonresidents. About one-quarter were first generation students, limited income, or racially minoritized. Fewer than 1 in 10 students attended a rural Colorado high school or were veterans. Overall, about four in five students received an accommodation for their disability.
Table 2: Undergraduate Demographic Characteristics (Unique Students)
| Characteristic | Overall N = 3611 |
| Undergraduate | |
| Freshman | 22.8% (825) |
| Sophomore | 21.4% (772) |
| Junior | 22.0% (794) |
| Senior | 32.7% (1,179) |
| Post Bachelors | 1.14% (41) |
| Accommodation | 83.0% (2,998) |
| Female | 69.5% (2,510) |
| Nonresident | 62.9% (2,273) |
| First generation | 23.0% (830) |
| Limited income1 | 26.7% (964) |
| Pell recipient | 21.9% (776) |
| Racially minoritized2 | 26.6% (960) |
| Latinx/e | 14.6% (529) |
| Asian | 7.31% (264) |
| Black or African American | 5.15% (186) |
| Hawaiian or Pacific Islander | 0.78% (28) |
| Native American | 3.71% (134) |
| White | 89.2% (3,220) |
| Multiracial | 19.4% (700) |
| International | 1.66% (60) |
| No response | 0.89% (32) |
| STEM major | 41.0% (1,482) |
| Attended rural CO high school3 | 7.02% (156) |
| Veteran | 4.02% (145) |
| Traditional student | 78.2% (2,824) |
| Living on campus | 33.1% (1,195) |
| 1Limited income status includes Pell recipients as well as those students who did not qualify for Pell (e.g., expected financial contribution above Pell guidelines) and demonstrated financial need (e.g., based on completion of Colorado Application for State Financial Aid (CASFA)). | |
| 2Racially minoritized status includes students who identified, in any combination, as Asian, Black or African American, Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, Native American, or Latinx/e. Race and ethnicity variables in this table are duplicated, meaning students can identify across several categories (e.g., White and Native American and Latinx/e). Summing race/ethnicity percentages by column will yield a value greater than 100%. | |
| 3Rural Colorado high school attendance is provided for Colorado residents whose high school of attendance is known. Rurality is based on Colorado Department of Education definitions and determined at the district level. | |
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Table 3 explores the success outcomes of the undergraduate students served by the SDC. Overall, students held a 3.0 end of term cumulative GPA and at least 9 in 10 were in good academic standing at the end the term. Students attempted about six credits in summer and 13 in both the fall and spring terms; they successfully completed about 90% of the credits they attempted. One-third or less received a D, F, or W grade.
Table 3: Undergraduate Student Success Outcomes by Term
| Success Outcomes | SM23 N = 537 |
FA23 N = 2949 |
SP24 N = 3228 |
| End of term cumulative GPA | 3.03 | 3.03 | 3.05 |
| In good academic standing | 95.6% | 91.7% | 92.2% |
| Had at least one D, F, or W grade | 22.7% | 33.7% | 29.9% |
| Credits attempted | 6.3 | 13.5 | 13.4 |
| Total credits passed | 5.3 | 12.0 | 11.9 |
| Percent of attempted credits passed | 92.5% | 90.9% | 91.1% |
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Table 4 explores the success outcomes by accommodation status. Overall, undergraduate students who received accommodations attempted more credits each semester compared to those without accommodations, though groups tended to be equivalent in their percent of attempted credits passed. Students with accommodations had end-of-term GPAs about one-tenth of grade point higher than those with out accommodations and also slightly more likely to be in good academic standing at the end of the semester.
Table 4: Undergraduate Student Success Outcomes by Term and Accommodation Status
| Received accommodation | No accommodation | |||||
| Success Outcomes | SM23 N = 450 |
FA23 N = 2727 |
SP24 N = 2694 |
SM23 N = 87 |
FA23 N = 222 |
SP24 N = 534 |
| End of term cumulative GPA | 3.04 | 3.04 | 3.07 | 2.94 | 2.87 | 2.90 |
| In good academic standing | 95.4% | 91.9% | 92.9% | 96.5% | 89.2% | 88.6% |
| Had at least one D, F, or W grade | 22.0% | 33.8% | 30.4% | 26.4% | 32.4% | 27.3% |
| Credits attempted | 6.4 | 13.7 | 13.7 | 5.8 | 11.8 | 12.0 |
| Total credits passed | 5.3 | 12.2 | 12.2 | 4.8 | 9.9 | 10.3 |
| Percent of attempted credits passed | 92.5% | 90.9% | 91.0% | 92.2% | 90.3% | 91.8% |
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In 2023-2024, SDC served 493 unique graduate students (see Table 5). About half of these were masters students and about three-quarters were female. More than one-quarter were racially minoritized and about 1 in 10 were international students. Overall, about 7 in 10 graduate students received an accommodation for their disability.
Table 5: Graduate Demographic Characteristics (Unique Students)
| Characteristic | Overall N = 493 |
| Graduate | |
| Graduate Non-Degree | 4.26% (21) |
| Masters | 52.1% (257) |
| Ph.D. | 24.3% (120) |
| Professional | 19.3% (95) |
| Accommodation | 72.8% (359) |
| Female | 77.7% (383) |
| Nonresident | 59.6% (294) |
| Racially minoritized1 | 28.2% (139) |
| Latinx/e | 16.8% (83) |
| Asian | 10.1% (50) |
| Black or African American | 7.30% (36) |
| Hawaiian or Pacific Islander | 0.41% (2) |
| Native American | 5.27% (26) |
| White | 78.1% (385) |
| Multiracial | 19.3% (95) |
| International | 9.94% (49) |
| No response | 3.04% (15) |
| STEM major | 64.9% (320) |
| Veteran | 1.83% (9) |
| Living on campus | 10.1% (50) |
| 1Racially minoritized status includes students who identified, in any combination, as Asian, Black or African American, Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, Native American, or Latinx/e. Race and ethnicity variables in this table are duplicated, meaning students can identify across several categories (e.g., White and Native American and Latinx/e). Summing race/ethnicity percentages by column will yield a value greater than 100%. | |
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Table 6 explores the success outcomes of the graduate students served by the SDC. Overall, students held a 3.40 end of term cumulative GPA and at almost all were in good academic standing at the end the term. Students attempted about five credits in summer and 11 in both the fall and spring terms; they successfully completed about 95% of the credits they attempted. Rates of D, F, or W grades were low, about 5% of students on average.
Table 6: Graduate Student Success Outcomes by Term
| Success Outcomes | SM23 N = 69 |
FA23 N = 396 |
SP24 N = 449 |
| End of term cumulative GPA | 3.40 | 3.40 | 3.40 |
| In good academic standing | 97.0% | 95.8% | 96.4% |
| Had at least one D, F, or W grade | 4.35% | 5.56% | 6.01% |
| Credits attempted | 5.2 | 11.4 | 11.1 |
| Total credits passed | 4.5 | 10.9 | 10.5 |
| Percent of attempted credits passed | 96.5% | 95.9% | 96.6% |
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Table 7 explores the success outcomes by accommodation status. Overall, graduate students who received accommodations attempted more credits each semester compared to those without accommodations, though groups tended to be equivalent in their success rates (good academic standing and percent of attempted credits passed). Graduate students with accommodations had end-of-term GPAs about two-tenths of grade point higher than those with out accommodations in the summer and fall terms; GPAs between the two groups were similar in the spring. Rates for D, F, or W grades were also slightly more likely for those with accommodations in the fall and spring terms.
Table 7: Graduate Student Success Outcomes by Term and Accommodation Status
| Received accommodation | No accommodation | |||||
| Success Outcomes | SM23 N = 55 |
FA23 N = 332 |
SP24 N = 326 |
SM23 N = 14 |
FA23 N = 64 |
SP24 N = 123 |
| End of term cumulative GPA | 3.43 | 3.43 | 3.39 | 3.29 | 3.23 | 3.41 |
| In good academic standing | 98.1% | 95.7% | 96.3% | 92.9% | 96.8% | 96.7% |
| Had at least one D, F, or W grade | 3.64% | 6.33% | 7.06% | 7.14% | 1.56% | 3.25% |
| Credits attempted | 5.3 | 12.0 | 11.9 | 5.1 | 8.3 | 8.7 |
| Total credits passed | 4.6 | 11.4 | 11.5 | 4.1 | 7.9 | 8.1 |
| Percent of attempted credits passed | 96.8% | 96.0% | 97.1% | 95.0% | 95.3% | 95.4% |