This research addresses how socioeconomic status impacts the ways that students
with learning disabilities and their families interact with the school system and the
consequences of these interactions. This will inform policy on special education, and
college level services and accommodations for students with learning disabilities. In
addition to exploring general patterns of college attendance for students with learning
disabilities, this research will include an analysis of what factors best predict college
attendance and persistence for students with learning disabilities. Specifically, the forms
of capital framework including economic, social, and cultural capital along with habitus
are used to understand issues of access and success in college. The primary findings of
this study include a) the intersection of socioeconomic status and disability create an
extreme form of stratification in college attendance for students with learning disabilities,
b) each form of capital is significantly related to college attendance, c) measures of
habitus are some of the strongest predictors of college attendance, d) forms of capital
best predict college attendance at four-year colleges and universities and are less
predictive for other forms of post-secondary education, and e) current models of college
persistence may not be accurate for this population of students.