U.S. Department of Education/Disability support
Pre-Employment Transition Services
Support in kind
Five kinds of help your state must make available to students with disabilities, including counselling on getting into college and paid work experience. You do not have to apply or be found eligible for anything first. Ask your state vocational rehabilitation agency, not your school.
Services rather than money, and the regulation states no value. Five are required: job exploration counselling, work based learning including internships, counselling on enrolling in college or other postsecondary programmes, workplace readiness training, and instruction in self advocacy including peer mentoring.
No deadline
What you need
The official page does not list required documents. Check the official page before you apply, since a provider can ask for paperwork it does not publish.
How to apply
- 1Contact your state vocational rehabilitation agency directlyThis is the part people miss. These services come from the state VR agency, not from your school, and you do not need the school to refer you. Every state has one, usually inside the department of education, labour or human services.
- 2Say you are asking about pre-employment transition servicesUse that phrase. It is the legal term, and it separates what you can have now without any determination from the wider vocational rehabilitation programme that does require one. Being asked to apply first is a sign the phrase was not heard.
- 3Bring your IEP or 504 plan if you have oneThe definition covers a student receiving special education under IDEA or who is a student with a disability for section 504 purposes, so either document is the evidence.
Where this comes from
- Last checked by SCRN
- 2026-09-03Verified null days ago
- How it was verified
- Checked against the official page by a person at SCRN
- Source level
- Provider verifiedRead from the provider's own page.
- Deadline
- The source states there is noneNo deadline and no application. There is an age limit instead: the services stop at 21, or later where state law sets a higher age for special education. Asking early is worth more here than in most places, because work experience and college counselling are only useful before you have left.
- How often
- annual