Colleges
"Best Buddies is a wonderful example of how modern college students look beyond themselves to help others, and by helping others, the students themselves also grow as humans and as citizens."

Best Buddies Colleges pairs people with intellectual disabilities in one-to-one friendships with college students. Without friends and family, we are alone. In the past, individuals with intellectual disabilities have not had the opportunity to have friends outside of their own environment. By becoming a College Buddy, volunteers offer a Buddy the chance to explore a new way of life.

Best Buddies Colleges is the premise upon which the international organization of Best Buddies began. The mission of Best Buddies Colleges is to provide an opportunity for college students to be matched in a one-to-one friendship with individuals who have intellectual disabilities. Social experiences and relationships are a part of life; unfortunately, individuals with intellectual disabilities have historically been excluded from many of the social opportunities that most people enjoy. By becoming a college buddy, you will not only befriend someone with a developmental disability, but you will also learn about yourself in the process.

College chapters are active on over 430 campuses worldwide. Each chapter is a registered student organization on their college campus and is led by a college buddy director.

The College Buddy Director is a student that is willing to organize, lead and maintain a chartered chapter of Best Buddies for the duration of one academic year.

Download the application:
[ College Buddy Director ]

Best Buddies Citizen, High School, and College programs are evaluated each spring by the Hardman Survey.  Dr. Michael Hardman, Dean of Special Education from the University of Utah, surveys Best Buddies participants throughout the country every year.

[ Download the Colleges evaluation from the Hardman Survey]

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