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Counseling and Disability Services

Counseling and Disability Services are available to any student at Savannah Technical College. Short term individual and academic counseling is available on all campuses. Students may request counseling for themselves or be referred by a faculty or staff member. The First Alert System is a referral system through which an instructor can refer a student for academic or personal assistance. It provides a team approach to problem solving with the instructor, the student, and the counselor working together.

Counseling at Savannah Technical College is a mental health resource to provide free, short-term personal and confidential counseling and referral service. The purpose of this resource is to help students acquire the skills, attitudes, and insights to enable them to address stress and conflicts that may prevent them from reaching their full potential. Workshops are presented each semester on topics such as goal setting, balance and wellness, stress management, overcoming test anxiety, effective communication, and self-esteem. To request counseling services, students should contact the Counselor/Coordinator of Special Populations Services at 912.443.5717.

Disability Services are offered to students who self-identify and provide appropriate documentation of a disability. Savannah Technical College strives to provide reasonable accommodations based on the nature of the disability.

Accommodations may include, but are not limited to: extended time on tests, special testing arrangements, use of print enlarging screen readers, recording class lectures, sign language interpreters, books in alternate format, short term counseling, and assistive technology.

Service or Assistance Dogs, as defined by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and/or the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, must be individually trained to perform tasks for the benefit of a person with a disability. Some examples, among other things, are pulling a wheelchair, retrieving dropped items, alerting a person to a sound, reminding a person to take medication, or pressing an elevator or crosswalk button. Service or Assistance animals can go anywhere members of the public are allowed because they are not pets. Service or Assistance animals must be housebroken and cannot exhibit aggressive behavior.

Emotional Support Animals are not specifically defined by the ADA or Georgia Law. Emotional Support Animals are not specifically required to be trained to perform a specific task or job and do not qualify as a Service or Assistance animals and therefore are not afforded the same protections in regard to public places.

As defined by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), a qualified individual is one who, with or without reasonable accommodations, can perform the essential functions of a program or course requirement. The College is not required to lower or make extensive modifications to essential functions of a program or course requirement to accommodate a student with a disability. The College does not have to make modifications that would fundamentally alter the nature of a service, program, or activity or that would result in undue financial or administrative burdens.

Students with disabilities may request services at any time but are encouraged to do so as early as possible. Some accommodations may take more time to provide than others. If a person chooses to voluntarily disclose a disability, the following steps may be used:

  1. Contact the Coordinator of Special Populations at 912.443.5717 or e-mail specpops@savannahtech.edu.
  2. Provide documentation from a licensed psychiatrist, a psychologist, or another qualified health professional who is an expert in the field of the disability. The professional’s report should be dated and signed. The costs of obtaining documentation are the student’s responsibility. Individual Education Plans are not sufficient documentation for college accommodations. Disability related information will be kept confidential and filed in the Office of Special Populations.
  3. Communicate with disability services each semester to request accommodations. Savannah Technical College is committed to providing an equal educational opportunity for all students who have a documented disability under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990.