Carolina LIFE

Let’s start with Carolina Life. I’m a little biased with this program for a few reasons.

One is I graduated from USC. Number two, I had the honor of serving on the Board of Trustees for nine years. One of those years was as “Trustee emeritus” as I was President of the Alumni Association. And I’m proud to say the University of South Carolina was the first Life program to get started in South Carolina. That was in the fall of 2008. It was an interesting year. Our son was a rising senior at a local high school after having spent three years in a private school on Cape Cod. After the first semester of his senior year he announced he wanted to go to college. Wow! We were not prepared for that!

That is when the state of South Carolina became one of the first to offer young people with an intellectual disability the opportunity to go to college. That first year was a learning experience not only for our son, it was a learning experience for USC as well as for us.  Long story short, in retrospect, it was perhaps the best thing that could happen to him, as he learned to be independent.

What is really telling about this experience is when he finished college, we asked him if he wanted to move back in with Mom and Dad. I’ll never forget his response:

"No, I want to live on my own”.

That was 16 years ago and he still lives in his own home.

So I got a little off subject, but thought it appropriate to share a success story about college education for someone who many thought would not succeed. Believe me, he has learned to live alone, take care of his home and is very proud of himself as are we. We are happy and very proud of how far he has come.

Carolina Life has had approximately 70 students who graduated from the four-year LIFE program since 2011.  As the program has continued to improve and provide more independent education along with its academic programming, the percentage of graduates has increased, as has the number of students living independently after college. Since 2023, the first year of TPSID data collection, approximately 77 per cent of their graduates live independently. Of the 70 students who have graduated, three individuals have gotten married, including one couple who met while attending the program.

Carolina Life is a non-degree, residential certificate program for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The program provides support and instruction in the following areas, which are outlined on their website (https://sc.edu/study/colleges_schools/education/study/carolinalife/):

• Academic Instruction 

• Career Education and Training

• Independent Living

• Social and Community Engagement 

• Personal Development

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Thank you, Erica Milliron, M.S., Program Director, for the above information.