Athens High School teacher Anna Tominack, second from left, tours Jacksonville State University's new program for students with intellectual disabilities. With her are, from left, Leslie Perez, Danielle Diaz, Anna Lee Thomas and Dylan Rye.

Anna Tominack, a special education teacher at Athens High School, believes college is for everyone, including students with intellectual disabilities.

The veteran educator has made it her mission to help her students make it into college programs. This concept was unheard of before Congress reauthorized the Higher Education Opportunities Act in 2008.

Passed into law in 1965 under the administration of President Lyndon B. Johnson, the original act made higher education more accessible to low- or middle-income students by applying federal money to universities and scholarships while establishing low-interest student loans.

With the reauthorization came provisions that help special education students realize their dream of going to college. Thanks to the new law, students with intellectual disabilities now have access to federal loans, work study programs and Pell grants. HEOA also established a new grant program to fund programs tailored to college students with intellectual disabilities.

At $500,000 apiece, the HEOA grants are spread over five years and provide participating colleges with the funds to set up meaningful programs for students with intellectual disabilities.

Currently, there are 266 colleges in the United States that offer some sort of post-secondary transition program for those with intellectual disabilities.

Addressing a room full of Athens Rotary Club members at a recent meeting, Tominack said, “Sounds like a pretty good number, but you will see some other statistics that show we have some work to do.”

As of the 2017-2018 school year, the University of Alabama, Jacksonville State University, University of Southern Alabama and the University of Alabama at Birmingham had programs for students with intellectual disabilities. Auburn will be ready to accept six students this fall into their newly developed transition program, Education to Accomplish Growth in Life Experiences for Success, or EAGLES.

Of these schools, UA, JSU and USA are working under one of the grants made possible by the HEOA.

“Currently, we serve 23 students in the state,” Tominack said. “When you think about how many intellectually disabled students we have in Alabama, that’s not enough.”

Recently, Tominack and four of her students toured the campus at JSU.

They shared their experiences at the same Rotary meeting. Anna Lee Thomas, a high school freshman, told the crowd about the university’s football field and how she wants to study math when she gets to college.

Tenth-grader Dylan Rye loved all the technology he saw on the JSU campus and said he wanted to study “almost anything.” Danielle Diaz, on the other hand, was enamored with the library, and Leslie Perez shared her passion for art with the group of Rotarians.

According to Tominack, special education students in the JSU program are paired with mentors who accompany them to class and help them acclimate to campus life.

“Because the program is so new, they are still tailoring it for the students based on what they are interested in,” she said. “A lot of them have expressed interest in art and music.”

“These kids can do a lot of things,” she added.

Tominack believes that the experiences students with intellectual disabilities have while attending college will help them become wage earners, live independently and support their own families.

As of this writing, Alabama colleges do not have the Comprehensive Transition Program designation, meaning special education applicants do not have access to federal loans or Pell grants.

“They pay full tuition,” Tominack said. “This isn’t ‘pretend college.’ It’s real college with a real price tag.”

Students with intellectual disabilities who enter one of the Alabama college programs will graduate with a two-year certificate.