Many obstacles still keep people with intellectual disabilities from considering college. Perhaps the largest is the “presumption of incompetence,” a misconception that college—let alone taking college classes for credit—lies beyond the reach of people with intellectual disabilities. And it’s clearly a widespread assumption, since only about 5 percent of colleges offer such programs.

But students in the Aggies Elevated program at Utah State University aren’t confined by low expectations.

As the COVID-19 pandemic rages on, colleges and universities across the United States are sharing plans for the fall semester. Many are telling large segments of their student populations to stay home. 

Those who are allowed on campus will be living in a world where parties are banned, where everyone is frequently tested for the coronavirus and—perhaps most draconian of all—where students attend many if not all their courses remotely, from their dorm rooms.