Michael Schiro was confused by the envelope he received in the mail from Adelphi University one afternoon in January.

“Congratulations,” it read in yellow letters across the front.

“Congratulations for what?” the 20-year-old wondered.

Schiro discovered the answer when he went to his room and opened the envelope: He was accepted to the Long Island school’s four-year undergraduate program.

“I’m feeling excited,” he said at his family home last week shortly after pre-registering for classes.

The acceptance was a long time coming. Going away to a four-year college was a goal of Schiro’s when he graduated Stamford High School in 2015. But he wasn’t ready for the challenges of college, as is sometimes the case with recent graduates. Schiro is on the autism spectrum, making some of the social and emotional components of going away to college even more difficult.

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Schiro also wasn’t prepared for college-level academics. For most of high school, he was in mainstream classes with a paraprofessional. However, his individualized education program allowed him to turn in modified work, which wasn’t at the same level as his peers.

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