Exploring the experiences of undergraduate students with disability who withdraw from university studies, 2025, Duncan (one has CFS)

[Dolphin]

[If there had been an education forum, this might fit better there]

Exploring the experiences of undergraduate students with disability who withdraw from university studies - The Australian Educational Researcher

University students with disability have significantly lower retention and completion rates than students without disability. A better understanding of the factors, whether institutional, academic, or personal, that contribute to their decision to withdraw from university is crucial for...

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Exploring the experiences of undergraduate students with disability who withdraw from university studies​

• Open access
• Published: 26 August 2025
• (2025)
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• Jill Duncan,
• Katie Butler &
• Renée Punch

• 1958 Accesses
• 10 Altmetric
• 1 Mention
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Abstract​

University students with disability have significantly lower retention and completion rates than students without disability.

A better understanding of the factors, whether institutional, academic, or personal, that contribute to their decision to withdraw from university is crucial for increasing the retention of students with disability.

Few studies have accessed the voices of students with disability who voluntarily withdrew from their university studies before completing a degree.

Underpinned by the social model of disability, this study explored the experiences of such students at an Australian regional university and the reasons for their withdrawal.

Utilising a qualitative approach, semi-structured interviews were conducted with eleven former students who had disclosed a disability upon enrolment and subsequently withdrew in 2022 or 2023.

Braun and Clarke's reflective approach guided the thematic analysis to interpret the data. Mental health conditions, including anxiety and depression, were prevalent among participants, often co-existing with chronic physical health conditions or with neurodivergence such as autism and ADHD.

Institutional factors were found to have a major impact on participants’ ability to sustain their studies as students with complex disability, and were most often the ultimate reasons they withdrew from university.

The study highlights the challenges encountered by university students with complex disability and underscores the need for improved support systems and inclusive practices to better meet the needs of these students.

Practical implications are drawn, and recommendations for universities to support the success and retention of students with disability are made. Future research should aim to expand on these findings across diverse educational settings.

 

[Snow Leopard]

I've been thinking about this recently, although on a post-grad level and wondering how students manage it.

 

[Holinger]

My institution allowed me to complete one subject a semester to finish my degree. Most universities would probably give you the boot. Looking back I was lucky I had good medical evidence.

 

[ukxmrv]

I was at University when I got ME in the 1980s. They made no attempt at all to help or accommodate me.

 

[Yann04]

I dropped out of uni when I became severe. My decline was so steep that I went straight from fulltime uni to bedridden and unable to open my computer within 2-3 months. Haven’t improved. There’s nothing the uni could have done for me, because I didn’t even know I had ME or had a meaningful diagnosis at all until I became severe. But if I had ME the uni wouldn’t have been great its not COVID safe. Although they have place you can kinda nap so that sounds ME friendly.

Wonder how my unfinished degree with good grades but drop out before completion will look like if say a treatment was found a decade after dropout and I was going into job market.

 

[jnmaciuch]

I've been thinking about this recently, although on a post-grad level and wondering how students manage it.

The only reason I can manage grad school is through the good graces of professors, administrators, and my PI. All of my accommodations for deadline flexibility and remote participation are basically done under the table, since the university doesn’t allow anything of the sort (there definitely was a backlash in academia in the US, maybe other places as well, against allowing remote participation as soon as we all decided to forget about COVID).

I’m very happy to have the support that I do, I couldn’t do grad school without it. But also I’m very aware that it could disappear at any moment if I annoy someone in a position of power by making one too many accommodation requests.

 

[jnmaciuch]

Also when I returned to campus as an undergrad student after taking a leave of absence for my health, COVID protections were abysmal (though my university did keep things going for an additional semester in 2022 when most other institutions had fully given up). I single handedly organized a student group to fundraise for rapid tests and deliver them to students who suspected they were sick and voluntarily isolated because the university stopped offering accessible testing.

The biggest issue we came up against was reinstatement of even stricter attendance policies. Administrators refused to consider that everyone would be sick more often during the semester if there was a new infectious illness constantly ripping through campus. Anyone who needed to skip class more than twice a semester must just be making up excuses, according to them. Students from outside the US were absolutely mind-boggled that our institution was actively encouraging us to go to class sick and infect the rest of the class.

 

[Peter T]

I was impressed by my sister in law, who, having witnessed my ME and ME in the children of several friends, descended on her daughter’s university when she developed glandular fever (mono) and gave the university no choice but to give her a year out. My niece went home for some months and then recovered went to stay in Paris polishing her French for a number of months before resuming her degree after the year’s delay.

Nearly twenty years on we will probably never know if my niece might have gone on to develop ME if she had struggled on without time out, but she had a productive year still getting a good degree.

Might different systems in different countries offer more flexibility. Germany undergraduate degrees seem much more modular meaning students can complete blocks then take breaks or shift with the credits accrued to other universities. Though I don’t now if it is easy there to study part time which might perhaps be more relevant to ME.

 

[MeSci]

I was at University when I got ME in the 1980s. They made no attempt at all to help or accommodate me.

I was studying with the Open University in 1996 when I attempted suicide due to ME and the suspicious disappearances of two of my cats.

I had to take a year out, and then took it up again. I got my first degree but not the grade I wanted, probably due to disruption due to work being done on my house and having to move out for about a year and a half, living in a small, cold, damp flat and having to take all my exam materials to a local place and set things up there.

I felt that I needed to get a top grade due to age and illness, if I were ever to get work again, so I went on to do a Masters, and got the required distinction.

Goodness knows how I did it, as I can't understand much now, or I need a lot of time to take things in, and can only sometimes do it.