[Excerpt] Community colleges, on average, serve 335 students with disabilities, although that number climbs to 5,000 at the largest college surveyed for this project. Nearly all community colleges that participated in the survey rely on the web for a variety of student services, but only half have instituted requirements regarding web accessibility for individuals with disabilities. Actual evaluations of accessibility and ease of use revealed that none of the websites analyzed complied with all federal standards on accessibility, and many web pages encompassed usability obstacles (e.g., unfamiliar terminology, unintuitive navigation schemes, and hard-to-read design elements) that affected disabled and non-disabled individuals alike

Bruyere, Susanne M

Erickson, William

Lee, Camille G

Trerise, Sharon

VanLooy, Sara

English

The ILR Impact Brief series highlights the research and project based work conducted by ILR faculty that is relevant to workplace issues and public policy.  The Briefs are prepared by Maralyn Edid, Senior Extension Associate, ILR School.[Excerpt] Community colleges, on average, serve 335 students with disabilities, although that number climbs to 5,000 at the largest college surveyed for this project. Nearly all community colleges that participated in the survey rely on the web for a variety of student services, but only half have instituted requirements regarding web accessibility for individuals with disabilities. Actual evaluations of accessibility and ease of use revealed that none of the websites analyzed complied with all federal standards on accessibility, and many web pages encompassed usability obstacles (e.g., unfamiliar terminology, unintuitive navigation schemes, and hard-to-read design elements) that affected disabled and non-disabled individuals alike.brief_27EDI_ICCD_b.pdf: 553 downloads, before Oct. 1, 2020

Lee, Camille G.

Bruyere, Susanne M.

eCommons@Cornell

ILR Impact Brief - Community College Websites and Barriers to Access

DigitalCommons@ILR

Cornell University ILR School 
DigitalCommons@ILR 
Policy & Issue Briefs ILR Collection 
February 2008 
ILR Impact Brief - Community College Websites and Barriers to 
Access 
William Erickson 
Cornell University, wae1@cornell.edu 
Sharon Trerise 
Cayuga Community College 
Camille G. Lee 
Cornell University, cgl8@cornell.edu 
Sara VanLooy 
Cornell University, sav22@cornell.edu 
Susanne M. Bruyere 
Cornell University ILR School, smb23@cornell.edu 
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ILR Impact Brief - Community College Websites and Barriers to Access 
Abstract 
[Excerpt] Community colleges, on average, serve 335 students with disabilities, although that number 
climbs to 5,000 at the largest college surveyed for this project. Nearly all community colleges that 
participated in the survey rely on the web for a variety of student services, but only half have instituted 
requirements regarding web accessibility for individuals with disabilities. Actual evaluations of 
accessibility and ease of use revealed that none of the websites analyzed complied with all federal 
standards on accessibility, and many web pages encompassed usability obstacles (e.g., unfamiliar 
terminology, unintuitive navigation schemes, and hard-to-read design elements) that affected disabled 
and non-disabled individuals alike. 
Keywords 
community college, accessibility, disabilities, internet, navigation 
Comments 
Suggested Citation 
Erickson, W., Trerise, S., Lee, C., Van Looy, S. & Bruyere, S. (2008). Community college websites and 
barriers to access (Impact Brief #27). Ithaca, NY: School of Industrial and Labor Relations, Cornell 
University. http://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/briefs/42 
For a more in-depth analysis, please see: Erickson, W., Trerise, S., Lee, C., Van Looy, S., & Bruyere, S. 
(2007). Web based student processes at community colleges: Removing barriers to access [Electronic 
version]. Ithaca NY: Cornell University Employment and Disability Institute. 
The ILR Impact Brief series highlights the research and project based work conducted by ILR faculty that 
is relevant to workplace issues and public policy. The Briefs are prepared by Maralyn Edid, Senior 
Extension Associate, ILR School. 
Required Publisher Statement 
Copyright by Cornell University. 
This article is available at DigitalCommons@ILR: https://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/briefs/42 
 BRIEFIMPACT
B R I E F # 2 7  /  F E B R U A R Y  2 0 0 8  /  I L R  S C H O O L  /  W W W . I L R . C O R N E L L . E D U
The Impact Brief series highlights the research and project-
based work conducted by ILR faculty that is relevant to
workplace issues and public policy. Please visit http://
digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/impactbrief/ for full-text pdfs.
Community College Websites and Barriers to Access
Research question: Are community college websites
accessible to individuals with disabilities?
Conclusion:  Community colleges, on average, serve
335 students with disabilities, although that number
climbs to 5,000 at the largest college surveyed for this
project.  Nearly all community colleges that partici-
pated in the survey rely on the web for a variety of stu-
dent services, but only half have instituted require-
ments regarding web accessibility for individuals with
disabilities. Actual evaluations of accessibility and ease
of use revealed that none of the websites analyzed com-
plied with all federal standards on accessibility, and
many web pages encompassed usability obstacles (e.g.,
unfamiliar terminology, unintuitive navigation
schemes, and hard-to-read design elements) that af-
fected disabled and non-disabled individuals alike.
Policy implication: Increasing reliance on the web by
colleges and universities to attract, inform, and interact
with students makes accessibility and usability critical
concerns. These are particularly pressing issues for
public community colleges, which educate sizeable
numbers of students with disabilities. Educational and
other organizations that seek contact with customers
and clients should thoroughly test website design and
functionality for compliance with federal standards on
accessibility and ease of use by all target demographic
groups. A step-by-step process and resource guide pre-
pared by the researchers to help college administrators
and staffs develop accessible websites can be found at
www.webaccesstoolkit.org.
Abstract: Internet use is a commonplace of modern
life. In educational settings, web-based technology can
open or close doors to students with disabilities: ad-
missions applications, financial aid information, sched-
ules, class assignments, bursar bills, and the like are
typically posted on the web. As committed providers of
post-secondary education to students with disabilities
and thus a link to better employment opportunities,
community colleges need websites that are accessible
to students with disabilities and, not incidentally, user-
friendly for all. Sites that fail to meet accessibility
guidelines increase the potential for inadvertent dis-
crimination against students with disabilities.
Community colleges enroll more than 70% of all students
with disabilities who attend public post-secondary institu-
tions. A recent survey for this project found that the vast
majority of these schools (99%) offer at least one online
student service, while a small minority provide certain
services, such as course registration or financial aid appli-
cations, exclusively through the web. Although nearly
three-quarters of the respondents said their colleges had
guidelines for web design, only half had requirements
concerning web accessibility for students with disabili-
ties. About half the respondents cited lack of awareness
about the need for accessibility, lack of knowledge
about how to develop accessible sites, and concern about
costs and time as barriers to creating accessible sites.
by WILLIAM ERICKSON
Employment and Disability Institute (ILR Extension)
The researchers also evaluated the accessibility and us-
ability of online student services. The standards estab-
lished in Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973
regarding accessibility of federal websites were used
as the accessibility criteria. Because the web is a primary
tool to recruit prospective students, project evaluators
first tested for compliance with web accessibility stan-
dards by zeroing in on pages potential attendees are
most likely to encounter. Of the 30 community college
websites tested, none of the home pages, financial aid
pages, academic programs pages, or disability services
pages met the Section 508 standards; results for admis-
sions application pages were slightly better.
Next, the researchers focused on usability. They identi-
fied tasks and processes that all prospective students
(with disabilities and without) are likely to perform on
the web and chose two community college websites as
test cases. The researchers’ particular interest was de-
termining how people with visual disabilities and read-
ing-related learning disabilities fared compared to
people without disabilities (the control group). Here
they found that almost all users (i.e., all the testers)
had some difficulty completing certain tasks; online
admissions forms were most problematic. In general,
people encountered similar usability obstacles regard-
less of disability type or in the absence of any disabil-
ity. Usability issues included unfamiliar terminology,
unintuitive navigation schemes, unclear content head-
ings, large quantities of unorganized data, and hard-to-
read design elements.
Despite the weaknesses in web design that surfaced
through the research, analysis of the survey data sug-
gested strong interest in the topic among community
college decision makers. Of the group currently lack-
ing accessibility requirements, half indicated they
planned to develop some within the year. Moreover, the
survey elicited an unusually high response rate of 79%.
In an effort to facilitate the process of ensuring and im-
proving both accessibility and usability, the research
team designed an online toolkit for community colleges
(www.webaccesstoolkit.org). The site explains the ter-
minology, the legal requirements, and the context, and
provides a step-by-step guide to designing and develop-
ing a website that is accessible to persons with disabili-
ties and user friendly for all.
Methodology: This project involved a survey of 885
public and private two-year colleges and hands-on test-
ing of a subset of websites by individuals with disabili-
ties and by a control group.
Source publication: “Web-Based Student Processes at
Community Colleges: Removing Barriers to Access” ap-
pears at http://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/
edicollect/1241/. The research was jointly conducted
by the Employment and Disability Institute (ILR) and
the Institute for Community College Development (ILR)
with a grant from the U.S. Department of Education Na-
tional Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Re-
search (Grant No. H133G040255).
SHARON TRERISE
Cayuga Community College
CAMILLE LEE
Employment and Disability Institute (ILR Extension)
SARA VANLOOY
Employment and Disability Institute (ILR Extension)
SUSANNE BRUY
Employment and Disability Institute (ILR Extension)
ÈRE


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