Vocational rehabilitation should pay for out-of-state services including postsecondary programs for those with autism or intellectual disabilities if similar options cannot be found within their borders, federal officials say.

New guidance from the U.S. Department of Education’s Rehabilitation Services Administration details how vocational rehabilitation agencies should respond to requests for out-of-state services.

Ultimately, the five-page technical assistance document says that if a vocational rehabilitation recipient is seeking services that fall within the needs identified in their individualized plan for employment, or IPE, the agency should accommodate an out-of-state option so long as no comparable in-state option exists.

“State VR agencies should provide VR services that best meet the unique disability and vocational needs of individuals with disabilities and maximize employment opportunities for such individuals, even if those services are located out-of-state,” reads the guidance sent to state officials across the country this month.

The information comes in response to questions that the Rehabilitation Services Administration has received about whether vocational rehabilitation agencies may support individuals who would like to attend out-of-state postsecondary training.

Offerings that individuals with disabilities might seek to access farther from home include postsecondary programs designed to address the specific needs of students with autism or intellectual disabilities, for example, or residential training centers for individuals who are blind, officials said.

Out-of-state programs may also be warranted if the course of study or degree needed to fulfill the employment goal in an individual’s IPE is not available with a particular state. Similarly, if an individual has been accepted to a prestigious out-of-state college or university that would better position them to access employment, the vocational rehabilitation agency should support that option, federal officials said.

“State VR agencies may establish a preference for in-state services, so long as the preference does not effectively deny an individual a necessary service that may be available out-of-state,” the guidance states. “State VR agencies may not establish policies that effectively prohibit the provision of out-of-state services.”

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