College Living Experience opens in Monterey
In a few weeks as kids start going back to school and, for some,
leaving home for the first time, there will be a lot of firsts.
Their first self-done load of laundry; their first self-made meal;
the first time they have to buy groceries for themselves.
College Living Experience opens in Monterey
In a few weeks as kids start going back to school and, for some, leaving home for the first time, there will be a lot of firsts. Their first self-done load of laundry; their first self-made meal; the first time they have to buy groceries for themselves.
For some this transition is easy, while for others the transition is not possible without help.
There was a time when Hollister resident Martha Swift thought her grandson, Gene, would have to live with her forever. Gene is a high-functioning developmentally disabled adult who currently attends classes at Gavilan College twice per week. Gene knows how to get on and off the bus by himself, but beyond that, there is not much he can do by himself. Martha does all his laundry; she cooks for him, and organizes Gene’s finances. Eventually Martha will die and Gene will likely have to be put into some type of care facility.
A new independent living program in Monterey is aimed at students such as Gene – students who might not be able to make the transition to adulthood by themselves.
College Living Experience works closely with students and families to develop social and independent living skills. Irene Smolter started the program in 1989 on the East Coast after a number of her friends asked her why they couldn’t have a program to help students develop independent living skills as well as academic skills.
“It kind of started out like a 3-legged stool,” said Steve Roth, executive director of College Living Experience. “The students all study something, whether it is toward a AA or a BA or a vocational school. Often students come to us from other colleges where they haven’t done real well. We have tutors that help the students with their classes, as well as helping with organizing themselves within their apartments. The third leg of the stool is socialization. Since many of these students typically have problems making friends we offer lots of opportunities to make and keep friends.”
The program started small, they didn’t advertise and got applicants mostly from word of mouth. Eventually, they began to grow. They began to look at other colleges. Since College Living Experience is not directly affiliated with any specific colleges, but works with colleges assisting students throughout the academic process from registration to graduation.
The company now has centers in Austin, Texas, Denver, Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., Monterey, Washington, D.C. and Chicago. College Living Experience offers access to nearly 20 community colleges, universities and technical institutes that offer a wide variety of certificate and degree programs.
Typically students enrolled in CLE are college students with special needs ranging from autism spectrum disorder (ASD) to Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder to a range of other learning disabilities.
“There is not just one type of student we take,” Roth said. “We have students who range from low to average cognitively to those who score 1500 on their SATs. We would like the students to be able to be somewhat independent. Safety is the most important quotient. We need to know the students will be safe here. We review every application individually.”
New sites are not easy to come by for CLE. In order to open a new site they need three components: One, a number of college options available. Ideally, there should be several colleges in a nearby area so students are able to study a broad range of things. Two, because CLE needs to set up offices and tutoring centers nearby, the location must be near commercial facilities. Three, there must be available apartments nearby, preferably no further than one mile, since most students walk or ride their bikes to and from school.
CLE began sites in Denver and Austin in 2006 and each of these campuses now has between 30 and 50 students.
“We chose Monterey because they were extremely interested and open to working with CLE,” Roth said.
So far CLE has 17 students enrolled in its 2007-2008 program. They will work closely with Monterey Peninsula College (MPC), California State University, Monterey Bay and they even have a student at Hartnell Junior College, according to Peter Young, director of the Monterey Bay program.
The program is not cheap. Typical costs based on a 12-month program including tutoring, social skills and detailed independent living cost about $30,000 for the full program; however there are programs to help defer some costs including the Department of Rehabilitations, if students qualify.
“Our ultimate goal is that students get the same experience here as at any of our other sites,” Young said. “We have a good full-time staff and we know that the students will help us design the program to fit their needs.”
Martha Swift isn’t sure that CLE would be the ideal fit for Gene, but it sounds good.
“If he qualified and it would help him lead a normal life,” Swift said. “I’d give anything.”
Patrick O’Donnell can be reached at po*******@pi**********.com.
