Bringing a Personal Care Attendant to college can feel complicated — but you don’t have to figure it out alone. This page walks you through how PCAs fit into campus housing, academics, and daily life so you can focus on being a student.
More About PCAs
Stanford University does not provide or pay for personal care attendants (PCA's), but the Office of Accessible Education can support related student housing accommodations, such as space and building access for the PCA in the student’s housing assignment.
Stanford University does allow PCA’s to live in student campus housing with the student who employs them if it is medically necessary. Typically, the student lives in graduate studio or family housing where the PCA provides care. The PCA is granted building and/or room access.
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PCA Resources
The Office of Accessible Education does not provide payment or referrals for personal care attendants (PCAs). However, the following resources may be helpful in locating a PCA that will meet your needs.
Parking and Transportation for PCA's
The student is responsible for PCA parking costs. The OAE does not provide disabled parking permits; if you have a disability requiring disability parking for you or someone providing your transportation, you should apply for a temporary or permanent California Disabled Person Parking placard. More information on California Disabled Person Parking placards can be found here.
Be sure to adhere to parking rules and restrictions as outlined on the placard, carry your placard identification card with you at all times, and also observe Stanford parking signs and information.
For transportation around the Stanford campus, in addition to the accessible Marguerite Shuttle service, there is a disability golf cart service, DisGo, which is managed through Stanford Transportation; On-campus rides must be booked a day in advance. For more information regarding DisGo or to register for services, please visit Stanford Transportation's Disability Golf (DisGo) Cart Service website.
Documentation Guidelines for Requesting a PCA
Documentation for students with disabilities residing in Stanford University housing must demonstrate the current functional impact of the disability on major life activities (e.g. walking, seeing, hearing, learning, self-care, etc.) and provide current evidence to support the disability-related accommodation(s). Disability documentation guidelines for your housing accommodations are available at:
If you are a student requesting PCA-related accommodations in Housing, please register with the Office of Accessible Education at oaeconnect.stanford.edu; you can upload your current documentation through this portal also, or FAX it to 650.725.5301. Once registered, you will be assigned a Disability Adviser, who will follow up with your accommodation requests.