Online College Guide for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Students

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For deaf and hard-of-hearing students, attending college online can have multiple benefits, including setting up their own accommodations, like online captioning and ASL interpreters, without relying entirely on their school’s resources. According to the National Deaf Center of Postsecondary Outcomes, 17.1% of dead and hard-of-hearing students complete college online, compared to roughly 11% of hearing students. However, deaf and hard-of-hearing students who enroll in online courses must carefully research and seek out schools that will support them and fully accommodate their needs.

This article provides an overview of common challenges deaf and hard-of-hearing students face and what accommodations are available to help them in their post-secondary education. We’ll also review the top colleges and scholarships available for deaf and hard-of-hearing students and additional resources that may be helpful.

Common Challenges Facing Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students

Learning new concepts and absorbing information can be difficult enough even when students can clearly understand every word their teacher says. However, for the 1.3% of U.S. college students who are deaf or hard of hearing, this can be even more difficult, particularly if they don’t have the right accommodations to help them follow along with lectures or understand instructions for assignments.

Outside the classroom, deaf and hard-of-hearing students may also face difficulty communicating with peers, instructors, and staff.  This can make it harder to collaborate with other students and lead to feelings of isolation, which can, in turn, cause depression, anxiety, and other mental health problems.

While online learning can help avoid or alleviate some of these challenges for deaf and hard-of-hearing students, there are still obstacles these students should be prepared to address, including:

• Issues with the teleconferencing platform or the instructor’s device resulting in poor audio quality.
• Excess noise in the student or instructor’s location can make hearing more difficult.
• Poor image quality or lighting in the instructor’s video feed can make it difficult to read lips. This also extends to interpreters.
• You won’t be able to see everyone in a virtual classroom if fellow students don’t have their cameras turned on.
• Multiple students talking at the same time.

Transitioning to Higher Education With Online Courses

In high school, teachers and administrators will generally take the lead on providing deaf and hard-of-hearing students with the necessary accommodations. But in college, students over 18 are legally adults and must take responsibility for making sure they get the services they need.

Before classes start, deaf and hard-of-hearing students should contact professors or school officials to communicate their needs. Since online students won’t have access to on-campus resources, they should be especially proactive about reaching out and setting up any necessary accommodations.

Many students who take online courses may not live in the same city as the college they’re attending. Even if they’re not able to meet in person, online students can still meet with faculty via teleconferencing apps such as Zoom.

Online Accommodations for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Students

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires that all public colleges and universities provide deaf and hard-of-hearing students with equal access to all activities. To comply with this law and make their online courses accessible, colleges typically offer the following accommodations to online students:

Interpreters

American Sign Language (ASL) interpreters allow deaf and hard-of-hearing students to understand what their professors are saying without the need for any audio. If you would like to request an interpreter for one of your courses, you should be able to do so through your school’s disability support services.

Many colleges provide an online form on their website that makes it easy to request this service. If such a form is not available, you may need to contact your school’s disability support services office via email or phone. You should also inquire about any important details about their ASL interpreting service, such as how much advance notice is needed and their cancellation policy.

Captioning

Zoom and most other teleconferencing platforms are able to generate captions for audio in real-time — this type of transcription is known as automatic speech recognition (ASR). While ASR can be useful in some situations, it’s not ideal for educational settings. Studies have shown that this technology is often inaccurate, and courts have found that auto-captions do not satisfy the “equal access” requirement of the ADA.

Students can request Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) for a more accurate captioning option. This service involves a trained speech-to-text professional manually transcribing spoken language and other auditory information. CART makes far fewer mistakes than ASR when it comes to punctuation, speaker identification, technical jargon, and other aspects of transcription that are still too nuanced for automated solutions.

The only downside to CART is that it’s more expensive than ASR, but this cost is taken on by the school rather than students. As with ASL interpreting, you should be able to access this service by contacting your school’s disability support services office.

Assistive technology

In addition to interpreting and captioning services, assistive technology can help deaf and hard-of-hearing students with their studies. For example, e-textbooks offer features such as note-sharing and instructor annotations, making it easier for hearing-impaired students to collaborate with their professors and peers. Hearing-impaired students can also obtain a number of devices and applications on their own to improve the quality of their college experience — see the section below.

What if your school doesn’t offer accommodations?

If you find that a school will not provide the accommodations that are legally required for deaf and hard-of-hearing students, you have a few options for filing a complaint. Public school students can file an ADA Title II complaint with the Department of Justice, while private school students can file an ADA Title III complaint. If your school receives federal funding, you can also file a complaint with the Department of Education under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act.

Popular Listening Assistance Devices and Applications for Student

As mentioned above, deaf and hard-of-hearing students may prefer online courses over in-person courses because it gives them more control over their learning environment. The following devices and applications are especially useful for these at-home learning setups:

Hardware

• AfterShokz OpenMove Headphones. These bone-conducting headphones are an excellent option for students with damaged ear drums but healthy cochleas, as they transmit sound by sending vibrations through the skull rather than the air in the ear.
• Sakobs Computer Soundbars. If you prefer not to use headphones, consider upgrading from your device’s internal speakers to a more powerful set of external speakers. For example, the Sakobs line of soundbar-style computer speakers is affordable and offers excellent audio quality.

Applications

Apps
	Google Live Transcribe is a free app that allows you to use your Apple or Android device to capture sound and convert the speech into text.	Download: Android | iOS
	Deaf and hard-of-hearing students may have trouble judging the volume of their own voice. Decibel X is a free app that can be used to practice voice control.	Download: Android | iOS

The Best Colleges for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students

The six colleges listed below are the best colleges for deaf and hard-of-hearing students. That said, we recommend consulting with a disability counselor at each prospective school to comprehensively understand all offered accommodations. This information will help students and their families determine their best choice.

Gallaudet University

Founded in 1864, Gallaudet University was originally a grammar school for deaf and blind children. Today, it is the only university in the country where all programs and services are designed specifically for deaf and hard of hearing students. Gallaudet University designs all of its classes with a focus on direct, visually accessible communication. To be accessible to all students, it uses two languages — ASL and written English.

Gallaudet University is a liberal arts and science college that offers more than 50 bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degree programs with online and continuing education.

• Intelligent Score: 99.20
• Tuition: $762 per credit
• Location: Washington, D.C.
• Number of Students: 1,400

RIT National Technical Institute for the Deaf

The National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID), one of nine colleges that make up the Rochester Institute of Technology, is the largest technological college in the United States for deaf and hard-of-hearing students.

NTID instructors specialize in teaching students with hearing loss, and their faculty includes 135 in-house interpreters and 47 real-time captionist. This school also offers a wide range of certificate and degree programs that are available online, including master’s degrees in data science, business analytics, computing security, construction management, and product development.

• Intelligent Score: 98.27
• Tuition: $619 per credit
• Location: Rochester, NY
• Number of Students: 21,316

Howard College

Howard College’s SouthWest Collegiate Institute for the Deaf offers the country’s only self-contained community college experience for deaf and hard-of-hearing students. The school offers programs including an Associate of Applied Science in Interpreter Training degree and an American Sign Language: Deaf Support Specialist certification.

• Intelligent Score: 97.37
• Tuition: $164-$288 per credit (qualified Texas deaf residents are exempt from tuition/fees)
• Location: Big Spring, TX
• Number of Students: 4,623

Ohlone College

This community college serves students in northern California and beyond with two campuses in the San Francisco Bay area as well as online programs. Students can earn associate degrees and certificates in a range of areas, including business, humanities, health and wellness, arts and creative industries, and more.

Ohlone College was also a pioneer in welcoming deaf and hard-of-hearing students and faculty, with a Deaf Studies Division that now serves as many as 200 deaf and hard-of-hearing students each year. Students in this population can request interpreters for classes as well as non-classroom events, like field trips and meetings with faculty. Ohlone College also provides notetakers and real-time captioning services for deaf and hard-of-hearing students.

• Intelligent Score: 96.04
• Tuition: $46 per credit
• Location: Fremont, CA
• Number of Students: 15,000+

California State University, Northridge

California State University, Northridge, is one of the largest colleges in the country in terms of enrollment. It also boasts an impressive set of resources for deaf and hard-of-hearing students—you can request video captioning and interpreting services directly through its website.

The school is also quite affordable, and it offers several online degree programs. These include a bachelor’s degree program in public sector management and master’s degree programs in communicative disorders, assistive technology engineering, instructional design, engineering management, and social work.

• Intelligent Score: 95.29
• Tuition: $532 per credit
• Location: Northridge, CA
• Number of Students: 36,368

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee offers ASL interpreting and real-time captioning services for deaf and hard-of-hearing students. It also offers over 40 fully online degree programs, including master’s programs in business administration, computer science, and library and information sciences.

• Intelligent Score: 93.79
• Tuition: $337-$400 per credit
• Location: Milwaukee, WI
• Number of Students: 22,882

Advice From an Expert

Sarah Honigfeld

Education Policy Specialist for the National Association for the Deaf

What advice would you give to a student who is deaf or hard of hearing who is considering college?

My advice for new deaf or hard-of-hearing students is to seek out resources right away. I wish I had done that as a new undergraduate student. When I started my master’s and doctoral programs, I immediately contacted the Disability Office at both schools and developed relationships. Having these relationships in place as early as possible not only helped me get the right accommodations, but also to meet new people in the community and find events or groups to participate in. Being proactive eases your transition to a new school with new people and new expectations.

How can family and friends support students transitioning to college?

Families can support their deaf or hard-of-hearing child’s transition to college as early as high school by including their child in accommodation-related decisions. This helps better prepare a new deaf or hard-of-hearing college student to be proactive about seeking information and making accommodation decisions.

What tools or resources would you recommend to a deaf or hard-of-hearing college student?

Deaf and hard-of-hearing students transitioning to college should always contact the Disability Office at their new school (this might also be known as the Disability Resource Center). Establishing that relationship right away gives new deaf and hard-of-hearing students access to campus resources, and sometimes community resources. I also recommend seeking out other students with similar experiences. Developing peer relationships with other students who use similar accommodations means you have someone who can give you advice or share experiences with. The Disability Office may be able to offer support for networking with other students.

Scholarships for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students

There are many scholarships available specifically for deaf and hard-of-hearing students. Some of the most prominent financial aid programs for such students include:

• Sertoma’s Scholarship for the Hard of Hearing or Deaf. Every year, Sertoma awards dozens of $1,000 scholarships to deaf and hard-of-hearing students. To qualify, you must have at least a 3.2 unweighted GPA and 40 dB bilateral hearing loss.
• Cochlear Scholarships. The company behind the popular Cochlear implantable hearing solutions offers scholarships to students who use their products. To be eligible, you must be a Cochlear Nucleus, Baha, or Osia recipient. You’ll also need to have at least a 3.0 unweighted GPA. If you win one of these scholarships, you’ll receive $2,000 per year for up to four consecutive years.
• George H. Nofer Scholarship for Law and Public Policy. This annual scholarship program provides three law and public policy graduate students with awards of up to $5,000 each. To qualify for this award, you must have bilateral hearing loss in the moderately severe to profound range. You must also use listening and spoken language (LSL) as your primary mode of communication.
• Google Lime Scholarship. With this scholarship, computer science students can earn up to $10,000 if they’re studying in the United States and $5,000 if they’re studying in Canada. Only students currently enrolled in undergraduate, graduate, or doctorate programs can apply — high school students are not eligible.
• John Lepping Memorial Scholarship. This scholarship awards up to $5,000 to students with disabilities who reside in New York, New Jersey, or Pennsylvania. There are no GPA requirements, though you will need to submit an official school transcript and three letters of recommendation from non-family members.

Additional Resources

Finally, it’s worth noting that the following organizations can also provide assistance to deaf and hard-of-hearing students:

Interested in a degree instead?

Learn more about online degrees, their start dates, transferring credits, availability of financial aid, and more by contacting the universities below.