Registration Process

We offer a few different types of registrations, depending on the student’s needs and qualifying factors. Students are encouraged to contact the Office of Admissions to apply for admission to the university prior to registering for services at the Office of Accessibility. Students are encouraged to register with the Office of Accessibility 3 months prior to enrollment at The University of Akron. If you have any questions about the registration process, please contact us.

• Temporary Medical Registration
• Traditional Registration
• Expedited Registration

Temporary Medical Registration

A temporary medical condition (TMC) typically describes conditions in which the student expects to recover in one semester or less. TMCs are often sports-related injuries, upcoming surgeries, high-risk pregnancies, etc. While the University is not obligated to provide students with temporary medical conditions an accommodation, as a courtesy and where feasible, the Office of Accessibility will attempt to provide services to students who experience temporary illness or injury that will allow the student to access the physical campus and the educational curriculum. If you have a temporary medical condition, please complete these steps:

• Submit a New Student Application and upload documentation which confirms the temporary medical condition. If there are any barriers to being able to complete the application, please contact the office.
• Upon review of the application and/or documentation, the student will receive a “Next Steps” follow-up email advising them on the next steps of the registration process.

Traditional Registration

Step One: Submit a New Student Application and upload documentation completed by a qualified professional.

• For guidance on the documentation required, review our Documentation Guidelines.
• If you have concerns about qualifying documentation, please contact our office.

Step Two: Upon review of the application and/or documentation, the student will receive a “Next Steps” follow-up email advising them on the next steps of the registration process.

• The email will include the name of your assigned Disability Specialist.
• If the application and/or documentation contains all necessary information, the student will receive a make appointment email. If our office needs additional information, the student will receive an email requesting additional documentation.
• To ensure that students do not miss important emails from the Office of Accessibility, we encourage students to (1) provide their university email address on the application, and (2) regularly check your email, including the junk mail folder.

Step Three: Attend your Intake Appointment. Intake Appointments can be scheduled virtually via Microsoft Teams. Additionally, in-person meetings are available upon request. During your Intake Appointment, you and your Disability Specialist will discuss and review:

• Eligible services based upon documentation and disability-related needs.
• Documents and materials related to accommodation and office policies and procedures.
• Training on our online accommodation request system (STARS).
• Any other questions about The University of Akron, our office, and preparation for attending college.

Expedited Registration

Expedited registrations are self-directed and do not require an Intake Appointment. Students will be responsible for carefully reviewing the Office of Accessibility Student Handbook and scheduling a follow-up meeting with their Disability Specialist if they have any questions or concerns. If you are interested in the Expedited Registration Process, these are the steps to take:

Step One: On Question #2 of the New Student Application, select Expedited Registration. Please be specific about your requests and remember to upload disability documentation. For more detailed application instructions, see Traditional Registration, Step 1.

Step Two: Upon the review of the application and/or documentation, you will receive a status update email confirming eligibility for the expedited registration.

Step Three: Within one week of the review of your application and documentation, you will receive a registration confirmation email which lists your approved accommodations and next steps for requesting those accommodations in your classes. Additionally, this email will contain any necessary policies and procedures that you are required to review. If you have any questions or concerns about the accommodations or would like to review any of the content covered in the expedited registration process, please contact the office to schedule a follow-up appointment. 

Submit Additional Documentation

Students have the ability to submit additional documentation through the Additional Documentation form within STARS.  Students should utilize this form when needing to submit additional documentation.  Students may consider submitting additional documentation for many different reasons.  These reasons may include, but are not limited to:

• Sustained a Temporary Medical Condition (broken bone, concussion, unexpected hospitalization);
• An exacerbation of current disability related symptoms;
• Additional disability diagnosis;
• Submitting documentation for the review of Provisional status;
• Requesting the review of current documentation on file for eligibility of a new accommodation

Students should upload current, disability-related documentation of their disability(ies) to STARS completed by a qualified professional. The Office of Accessibility has specific guidelines available on our website or in Simmons Hall 105. The Office of Accessibility will not accept disability-related documentation from treatment professionals who are related, in any way, to the student requesting services.

Students are encouraged to contact their Disability Specialist with questions or to discuss the process of submitting additional documentation.