Has anyone seen any resources or threads here on CC to help identify colleges that might work well for a trans student?
We are trying to figure out which schools to visit, and it’s hard to tell what the campus culture is like, and how policies play out in real life.
Kid would like an LAC, open to either East Coast or West.
You might look at Warren Wilson. It’s teeny tiny and is a work college, so everybody has a job on campus that helps the place run and takes a smidge off your tuition. It’s super gay. Lots of Trans and non-binary students there. My L daughter was there for a semester, but felt like it was a little too hippie for her. My spouse and I still lament it as the one that got away.
Don’t forget differences in state laws and policies.
Most LAC campuses will be safe and welcoming to a trans student (minus hillsdale, etc). I would go by state legislation here.
Just to be clear, kid is looking only in what he would consider the safest states.
Both Holy Cross and Clark are trans friendly and in Worcester Ma which has declared itself a sanctuary city for the LGBTQ+ community. Almost any college in MA will be trans friendly.
Holy Cross is Jesuit and welcoming and supportive of trans student, while Clark has a very visible LGBTQ community.
Do you have any mire criteria? Most of the LACs in NY, Mass and Vt would be very trans welcoming. Vassar and Wesleyan have long histories of being LGBTQ+ safe places.
Erin in the Morning has a useful anti-trans national legal risk assessment map, showing which states are the safest.
This site may offer you ideas for colleges to research further:
As examples, schools like Reed, Pitzer and Wesleyan may be of interest.
If this student is the student who may want to play intercollegiate soccer, be sure to look into college, league / conference, and NCAA (or NAIA) policies on the matter, including any anti-doping policies, as well as more general issues for transgender students.
No this is his brother.
He would like to play something intramural or maybe club, but won’t be an NCAA athlete.
Sports are important. He would like both NCAA teams to cheer for, and a club or intramural Ultimate or soccer team to play on, plus opportunities to be involved in other ways, like announcing or taking sports photos for the school paper. He’d also love an outdoors club that went rock climbing or hiking or kayaking or skiing or camping.
He isn’t sure what he wants to study, maybe computer science, or data analytics, or finance, but also maybe photography or film.
He would like to be in a community where there is a visible LGBT presence and the community is explicit and intentional about supporting and including people who are LGBT. At the same time, he is very gender conforming, and private.
Budget $45-50K.
Be sure to look into the upper level course offerings in all of the subjects that he may be interested in for a major, since some smaller colleges can be limited in some subjects.
At LACs, finance normally would not be a standalone major, and business is uncommon, but finance courses may be present in economics departments. For data analytics, statistics courses may be under math departments at smaller colleges.
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I think you can do some initial filtering with online resources, but the relevant kids and parents in my circles seem to have had the best results from contacting Admissions Offices and asking to being put in contact with a current student. Based on what I have heard, the vast majority of time their filters “worked” in the sense that they were overall reassured the campus environment will be welcoming. But, reportedly there have been some frank discussions which have at least led to some reconsideration.
Skidmore? Bard? Sarah Lawrence? Marist? SUNY New Paltz?
In these types of threads I don’t think it is that helpful to suggest high reach schools.
Not relevant for OP of course but I don’t believe there are any rules prohibiting trans men completing on ncaa men’s teams.
Totally agree with these choices
Skidmore especially fits criteria for sports and access to the arts
Thank you! With his siblings we found a safety or low target that they loved first, and then kind of worked up from there, if that makes sense. I’d like to do the same for him.
Here’s the challenge with the photography and film. He’s really mostly interested in those things in connection with sports. He’s the sports photographer for the school paper, and runs a small business making highlight reels for student athletes trying to get the attention of college coaches. His dream job in the field would be working on production or marketing for ESPN or a major sports team, not Hollywood.