Many students with learning differences who end up failing out of college within the first year do so because they did not choose a college that was a good fit for them. Our goal is to better the lives of students with learning differences by assisting them in finding a college where they can be happy and successful, and can become college graduates with meaningful, bright futures. Selecting the right college and starting with the right support are the keys to success.
In 2001, Judith Bass founded Bass Educational Services, LLC, an educational consulting firm that works exclusively with students who learn differently. As a former educator, Judy was aware of the importance of a good college fit, especially for students with ADHD, language-based learning differences and those with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Judy wanted to assist her clients in having college options where they would not only succeed, but thrive.
Judy sought to find colleges that would take a chance on a student with potential, one who might not have thrived in a traditional high school environment. She needed to be sure, however, that if accepted, the student would receive the support needed to have a successful academic experience. As Judy sought to find colleges that matched each student's needs, she was amazed at the lack of information available on college websites. It took many phone calls, campus visits, and a great deal of persistence to collect the data. Judy visited colleges and spent much of her time in the Office of Disability Services, the Academic Support Center, and any other learning support centers on campus, checking out their physical space, speaking with learning specialists and students, and getting a sense of the environment, so that she could help her students find a good match. If it took her so much time and effort to find the answers she needed to assist her students, how would parents manage to accomplish this on their own in the short time they had? How would they find those colleges that were a good fit for their child's learning needs?
As Judy’s college visits began numbering in the hundreds, her husband Joe, who has a background in e-commerce, reasoned that the valuable information she was collecting should be available to more people than just her clients. He suggested that she put all of her research into a website so that it would be accessible to everyone who needed the information; and so, CollegeWebLD was born. Clients loved receiving the detailed information describing the services available to students with learning differences, including contact information for disability services, documentation required, and level of support provided.
What started as a small project to build our personal database has grown into an invaluable resource for anyone searching for colleges for students who learn differently.
Today, we have a searchable database of 400+ colleges and universities, and are continually adding new schools to our system. With our planned future expansion into additional postsecondary markets, we will broaden the scope of information available to our customers. Since its inception, CollegeWebLD has provided information most relevant to today’s college-bound students, including social support programs for students with Autism and coaches and mentors for students with ADHD and executive functioning issues. Many college websites do not provide the information necessary to evaluate the disability support available; we are the only resource that provides a rating system you can trust to choose a college that is right for the student who learns differently.
Our ultimate vision is to help as many students as possible follow their dreams and find the perfect school to continue their education!