The pandemic has shaken up faculty life for good: Since then, social media and AI have revolutionized classroom expectations, and the bar for touchdown a job after commencement has grow to be impossibly excessive. Many are actually questioning whether or not getting a level was even price it.
The ripple impact of these strains is already exhibiting in campus accessibility places of work, the place diagnoses of ADHD, anxiousness, and melancholy are rising—and so are requests for prolonged time on coursework.
At Harvard, 21% of undergraduates acquired incapacity lodging final 12 months, a rise of greater than 15% over the previous decade, in response to information printed by the Nationwide Middle for Schooling Statistics analyzed by the Harvard Crimson. High faculties like Brown, Cornell, and Yale reported related numbers, roughly in step with nationwide tendencies. However the enhance is extra pronounced at different establishments: 34% of scholars at Amherst Faculty and 38% at Stanford are registered as disabled, in response to The Atlantic.
Within the 2011-12 college 12 months, the variety of undergraduates with a incapacity was about 11%, primarily based on U.S. Division of Schooling information—highlighting simply how a lot of a dramatic shift this phenomenon has grow to be.
One founder says college students are attempting to get a leg up in as we speak’s powerful job market
Consultants observe that many college students have medical circumstances that advantage lodging, and the rise is partly linked to broader entry to mental-health care and diminished stigma round in search of assist.
The rise has nonetheless drawn nationwide consideration, with some critics arguing that college students are abusing the system to safe lighter workloads or an edge in hypercompetitive school rooms.
Derek Thompson, writer of the latest bestseller Abundance referred to as the numbers “mind-boggling,” arguing that faculties could also be overcorrecting after years of underrecognizing incapacity.
“America used to stigmatize disability too severely,” he wrote on X. “Now elite institutions reward it too liberally. It simply does not make any sense to have a policy that declares half of the students at Stanford cognitively disabled and in need of accommodations.”
Joe Lonsdale, a billionaire enterprise capitalist and Palantir cofounder, expressed related considerations, suggesting some households are in search of analysis simply to provide college students “a leg up.”
In spite of everything, the post-graduation job hunt has tightened right into a numbers recreation few can win.
In 2023 and 2024, greater than 1.2 million functions had been submitted for slightly below 17,000 open graduate roles within the U.Okay., in response to the Institute of Pupil Employers. And within the U.S., lawmakers warn the funnel is narrowing additional. U.S. Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) has warned that joblessness amongst latest graduates might hit 25% within the subsequent two to a few years, as AI reshapes entry-level work.
However in actuality, there isn’t any proof of widespread misuse, and never all college students registered with a incapacity obtain lodging in each class. Nonetheless, the dimensions of requests has raised questions amongst some college members about how lodging intersect with educational expectations.
School grapple with balancing assist of scholars and avoidance of stigma
For instructors, the rise in lodging will be difficult to navigate. Many say they need to assist college students with reputable wants however fear that requesting clarification may very well be seen as insensitive or ableist.
One adjunct professor, posting to Reddit, mentioned the variety of college students with lodging has “increased exponentially” throughout the three faculties the place they train.
“I had an increasingly large number of students at this particular school be given the accommodation to turn work in 48 hours late, and I got tired of constantly having to extend due dates for just them,” the professor wrote, noting that they themselves have ADHD and autism.
“The students I’ve had on this accommodation would use it pretty much every week since they were perpetually behind.”
Harry Lewis, former dean of Harvard Faculty, expressed a associated concern to the Harvard Crimson.
“The whole system of accommodations for things other than physical disabilities just seems badly mismatched with the educational purposes that students and faculty share,” he mentioned.
Nevertheless, Katy Washington, CEO of the Affiliation of Greater Schooling and Incapacity, argued that college students in search of lodging usually are not “unfair burdens” on professors, and slightly than questioning whether or not too many college students qualify—which might perpetuate stereotypes—the main focus ought to be on designing assessments which might be inclusive for all learners.
“For decades, students with invisible disabilities were denied support because their struggles were dismissed as laziness or lack of effort,” Washington wrote in a letter to her group’s members, shared with Fortune. “The rise in accommodations reflects a cultural shift toward acknowledging mental health, not a decline in academic integrity.”
A shifting skill-based job market might depart some college students unprepared
For college kids, the rise in lodging coincides with employers rethinking what really issues in hiring. Fewer firms are prioritizing levels, and extra are evaluating on what they’ll do—by way of portfolio, tasks, and real-world problem-solving.
Lower than half of U.S. professionals on the director-level and above say a college diploma is crucial for getting forward, in response to LinkedIn. Furthermore, almost 1 in 5 job postings on the platform don’t require a level.
That shift might complicate the image for college students who’ve grown accustomed to prolonged deadlines or further time. Whether or not a small variety of college students are abusing the system, office assessments usually don’t include lodging—and efficiency is usually judged on pace, accuracy, and consistency. Some Gen Zers have already confronted the pink slip simply months into the beginning of their profession resulting from employers being unimpressed with a few of their mushy abilities, like group.
In different phrases: at the same time as faculty turns into extra versatile, the job market is transferring in the wrong way.
A model of this story initially printed on Fortune.com on December 12, 2025.
Extra on schooling:
- Malcolm Gladwell tells younger individuals if they need a STEM diploma, ‘don’t go to Harvard.’ Chances are you’ll find yourself on the backside of your class and drop out
- Ex–Google exec says levels in legislation and drugs are a waste of time as a result of they take so lengthy to finish that AI will catch up by commencement
- Anthropic cofounder says learning the humanities shall be ‘more important than ever’ and divulges what the AI firm seems for when hiring
This story was initially featured on Fortune.com
