MINNEAPOIS - After just two campus visits, Lizzie Schultz had made up her mind: She wanted to go to the University of Arizona, a huge school far from her home. But her mother, Peggy Schultz, quietly insisted that Lizzie have eight to 10 schools on her list.

"I don't know about that," said Lizzie, 17.

The college search is a time of high anxiety for most high school seniors and their families. But concerns about finding the right school are magnified for students like Lizzie, who have diagnosed learning disabilities or who have been in special education.

Once, college might have been a long shot for Lizzie, who, though bright and highly motivated, has dyslexia and a movement disorder that make it difficult for her to learn in conventional ways. She's a junior who splits her school day between a school designed for LD students and a traditional high school.

Today's LD students are both better prepared for college and more demanding of special services. And schools are, in turn, responding to those demands."Some of these students are very bright and, in fact, gifted," said Susan Storti, founder and director of Learning and Language Specialists in Golden Valley, Minn., who has assessed and treated people with learning disabilities for 25 years. Today, an estimated 10 percent to 12 percent of students on campuses nationwide have diagnosed learning disorders, compared with just 2 percent in 1980, Storti said.For the past three years, the LD school Lizzie attends, Groves Academy, has teamed with schools in the Minneapolis area to run its College and Post-Secondary Opportunities Fair exclusively for students with learning disabilities. This year's fair drew 50 schools known for excellent LD programs. And two phone-book-sized college guides - one by Peterson's, the other by the Princeton Review - provide detailed information on what LD accommodations colleges do and don't provide."It takes a lot of work to find out what's available," said Peggy Schultz, who just finished helping Lizzie's older brother, Tom, with his college search. Tom, 18, is a National Merit Semifinalist and editor of his high school newspaper. Peggy is fairly sure that he will be accepted by most of the highly selective colleges on his list.She worries more about Lizzie, as she is flung from the very protective environment of Groves into the real world."It's a little more sink-or-swim," Peggy said. "But I think if we find the right place, it will work out. Lizzie has a really great personality."

Most colleges offer at least minimal accommodation for students with learning disabilities, a requirement if they receive federal funds. Others have large, specialized departments with staffs skilled at providing counseling, tutoring and organizational skills. Some charge extra for the services - sometimes thousands of dollars."We've learned a lot about the accommodations and help it takes to make college success possible for this population," Storti said. "In the past, a lot of these people just failed."One big problem: College requires the very same multi-tasking skills that are a challenge for LD students."A lot of these kids do not have the self-advocacy, organizational skills and independence to handle all the stuff that happens your first year in college," Storti said. "It's beyond the academics. You have to do laundry, feed yourself and get around. Then, there's that whole social piece."As a result, she and independent college counselors often recommend smaller, nurturing environments where students have more contact with faculty and staff members.

In October, Lizzie and her parents joined 800 other students and parents in the Groves gym for the college fair, the only one of its kind in Minnesota."Most of these programs are for kids who are average to above average in intelligence and highly motivated," said Kathy Boone, Groves' director of education. "These students have to be willing to work three times harder than their peers at college."Lizzie is an auditory learner who has capitalized on her great memory, absorbing nonfiction and sophisticated novels through books on tape and earning mostly A and B grades in school. But her dyslexia and uncontrollable eye movements make reading laborious and nearly impossible from overhead projectors. She needs help taking notes in class and typing big papers.Tonight Lizzie has a short list of college booths to visit, including Carbondale, Arizona, the College of St. Catherine in nearby St. Paul and Beacon College in Leesburg, Fla. Her big question at each: "Do you have a psychology major?"As she dashes to the next booth, her mother hangs back to quiz college representatives: How much help do they provide? What kind? Must students apply separately to the college and to the LD program? When are applications due?Admission to some programs, including the University of Arizona's Strategic Alternative Learning Techniques Center that so impressed Lizzie, is incredibly competitive. Of the 500 students who apply for SALT, 170 will get in.Lizzie has supreme confidence in her ability to get admitted to SALT and do the work."Lizzie was always very motivated," Peggy says. When Lizzie wanted a driver's license, she completed driving courses at Courage Center and St. Cloud State University, and did triple the required behind-the-wheel hours with a private instructor.

In November, Lizzie visited the College of St. Catherine. She hadn't expected to like it. But the campus- near enough to her home for an emergency fail-safe but not so close that parents would drop in -matched her mental image of a college campus.But Peggy's smile fades when Lizzie announces that Arizona is still No. 1. It's tough for her to mesh a mother's protective instincts with her daughter's desire for independence.Lizzie reminds her parents that she has been a powerful advocate for herself, deciding on her own to attend the public high school this year and rising at 6 a.m. to drive herself to school to meet with teachers when she had trouble with Spanish or math.She believes her disability - a word she hates - has made her a stronger, more attractive college applicant."I have a lot of experience that other people don't have," she says, ticking off leadership awards she's won, international travel she's done and national swimming records she has set."I believe there's a perfect fit for everyone," Lizzie said, "but you really have to look for it."