Last night I attended a meeting with representatives of College Living Experience. Here are the key take aways:
1. Background. CLE started in Ft. Lauderdale in 1989. Educational Services of America acquired CLE in June 2005. They opened the Denver campus in August, 2006 (and I believe opened the Austin campus around the same time). They plan to open a California campus in August 2007 and are evaluating locations now -- they look for a community college with broad course offerings and nearby 4 year institutions (within 10 miles) and technical schools, a large apartment complex with a vacancy rate likely to have a steady supply of openings for new CLE students, proximity to grocery stores, restaurants, etc. (many of their students do not drive), and a 5,000 to 7,000 sf business facility for CLE tutoring and back office operations very close to the apartment complex.
2. Success Stories. In response to the question -- focusing on Ft. Lauderdale (which opened in 1989) can you desribe two successful tracks? -- the Director described 2 students: one who had failed his first semester at college, stayed one year to develop some needed independent living and social skills, and then successfully returned to college; and one who was in the program for 5 years, graduated with a BA in sports management, had some internships with local sports teams, and, eventually, was hired as a full time employee by CLE.
3. Cost and Financial Aid. CLE is expensive. Tuition for a 12 month year is $30,000. That does not include the apartment (which, typically requires a 12 month lease signed by the family and landlord), collge tuition and additional living expenses. They do offer financial aid through Sallie Mae, but we did not go into this in any detail.
4. Boy / Girl ratio. The mix of boys to girls is approximately 60 / 40.
5. Program. They focus on academic, social and living skills. The Austin and Denver programs are modelled after the Ft. Lauderdale program, although they also give quite a bit of autonomy to the site director to do what it takes to make his / her site work. Each site includes: a full time psychologist, academic liason (who helps meet with professors, register for classes, etc.), mentors (doctoral students in psychology), academic tutors, and a "social director." The folks I heard speak said they have a 2:1 ratio of students to staff at each site. You need to check out the colleges they work with at each site, to see which location is most likely to be able to provide a course of study that works for your student.
6. What if it doesn't work out? The CLE representatives, said they require a 4-5 hour interview as part of the application process, including time with the on-site psychologist. Sometimes, however, it turns out that the student is not a good fit with the program. They said, under those circumstances, they will work out a refund, but I think that is something to probe in greater detail (and in writing). Each contract is a one year contract. I wonder if the refund philosophy only applies when it is CLE that decides the school is not a good fit (vs. the student and his family deciding that they made the wrong choice).
7. Communication with parents. CLE communicates with parents once a week -- they rotate that responsibility among the staff members, so the parents hear from a different staff member each week about how their student is progressing in that staff member's domain.
8. Admisssions. Many of their referrals come from educational counselors, therapists, so, they said, much of the screening is done up front. They admit approximately 90% of applicants. They have programs to help students complete high school and to take remedial courses required to help them gain admission to a 4 year college.
9. Range of learning disabilities. CLE is NOT exclusively for NLD / autistic spectrum kids. Their marketing is geared towards: LD, ADHD, NLD, Aspergers and PDD. The students have a wide range of learning disabilities -- from those who probably do not have the cognitive skills necessary to attend college, and who will focus on vocational schools, to those who are very intelligent, but need help on living and social skills. I did not hear any suggestion that tutors are specifically trained or equiped to deal with the particular academic / executory planning challenges of students on the autistic spectrum, so that is defintely something to probe further.
10. Miscellaneous Q&A. There were a number of students in attendance. They asked some of the best questions:
- [I lived in a group home for 2 years and saw a lot of melt downs -- ranging from temper tantrums to physical violence. What sort of melt downs would I be exposed to if I lived at a CLE apartment] -- It took awhile for the presenters to "get" that he was asking about his physical safety. The first answer was along the lines that "you will see as many different types of melt downs as you've seen before -- there is no one type of "melt down" that CLE students experience." A presenter from Educational Services of America stepped in with a better answer along the lines that: "we try to screen out kids with significant behavioral issues, that is not our target population." That is something I would probe further.
- [How do you respond if a kid is "blowing it" -- like he just can't get up and get to class. I visited another program that gives you 1 or 2 chances and then kicks you out with no refund.] The CLE presenters discussed their philosophy of working with the kids to figure out what's going on with them. They are less focused on having CLE apply consequences (i.e. throwing the kid out of the program) than they are on having the student learn the real world consequences of his / her choices, e.g. failing a class, or making the decision to drop a class.
11. Next steps. I plan to visit both the Denver and Austin sites with my son, and, of course, the California site when it is open.
