Parents of aspiring Ivy League students are furious after discovering that some students have quietly gained an unfair advantage over their children through disability accommodations on college entrance exams.
For decades, students with medical and mental health disabilities have received extra time and special accommodations on the SAT and ACT to level the playing field. However, parents and students are now going to great lengths to secure accommodations they may not need.
Conditions such as anxiety, ADHD, irritable bowel syndrome, gluten intolerance, endometriosis, and night terrors are among those cited to obtain accommodations at top high schools and universities.
College admission consultant Laurie Kopp Weingarten told the Daily Mail that inquiries about accommodations have increased yearly. 'The controversy centers more around concerns that, in some communities, accommodations may be pursued because families perceive extended time as a competitive advantage,' she said.
'I've heard parents describe the process as becoming a new form of “pay-to-play,” and I’ve also heard concerns about families “gaming” accommodations—particularly on time-sensitive exams such as the ACT,' Weingarten added.
Dermatologist Adarsh Mudgil, whose daughter attends the University of Virginia, discovered the trend while she was taking the ACT and condemned it as cheating. 'It puts our kids at a disadvantage,' he said.
After his daughter took the test without accommodations, at least 60 students at her elite Long Island high school were granted extra time. Mudgil discussed the issue on his podcast, stating that many 'don't really fit the criteria to receive those accommodations but because they hired some private psychologist or private testing and paid $20,000 to get whatever documentation they need.'
He added, 'All of these special accommodations that students are receiving really is in my mind akin to cheating. It's cheating the system and it's not right.'
The number of students receiving accommodations on college entrance exams has risen. For the ACT, it increased from 4% to 7% since 2013, while the SAT saw a rise from 2% to 6% in the last decade.
Most colleges are unaware whether a student received accommodations when submitting scores. Common accommodations include time-and-a-half on tests, frequent bathroom breaks, and separate testing rooms.
Stanford University senior Elsa Johnson, who registered with the Office of Accessible Education, said the process was so easy that 'you'd be stupid not to game the system.' She received extra absences, tardiness allowances, and single housing after a 30-minute Zoom meeting for her endometriosis diagnosis.
'I was met with so little skepticism or questioning, I probably didn’t even need a doctor’s note to get these exemptions,' she wrote in The Times.
Stanford spokesperson Angie Davis said the university is revising how it reports accommodation data, aiming to accurately reflect the number of students receiving academic accommodations. For fall 2025, Stanford expects to report that 12.5% of undergraduates receive accommodations, down from the previously reported 33.51%.
Other top-tier schools face similar issues. A Yale professor noted that students are incentivized to seek accommodations, while a Brown professor argued that accommodations hinder accurate reflection of student abilities.
University of Chicago Physics Professor Juan Collar said the high number of accommodations creates a 'two-speed student population,' disadvantaging those not taking advantage.
Students with legitimate disabilities also feel conflicted. An anonymous high school student with Asperger's posted on Reddit, questioning whether his high scores were due to extended time.
Professors on social media express concern. One educator said accommodations are 'turning increasingly into academic advantages,' noting that in advanced classes, at least one third of students have accommodations.
Katy Washington, CEO of the Association of Higher Education and Disability, views the increase positively, stating that it reflects a cultural shift toward acknowledging mental health rather than a decline in academic integrity.
