Website Accessibility Lawsuits in Higher Education: 2025 Year in Review

Accessibility-related legal actions against educational institutions continued their upward trajectory in 2025, with demand letters and formal complaints reaching new highs across both two-year and four-year institutions.

The Numbers

ADA web accessibility lawsuits exceeded 5,200 filings in 2025, representing an increase of approximately 13% year over year. Higher education institutions accounted for a growing share of these actions, driven by the DOJ's Title II enforcement posture and increased awareness among advocacy groups.

Common Violations Cited

The most frequently cited violations in 2025 actions included missing alternative text for images, insufficient color contrast, inaccessible PDF documents, missing form labels, and videos without captions. Many of these are relatively straightforward to remediate with the right tools and processes.

The Cost of Non-Compliance

Settlement amounts varied significantly, but institutions that lacked documented remediation efforts faced substantially higher costs than those that could demonstrate active compliance programs. The message is clear: having a monitoring and remediation system in place is your best protection.

Looking Ahead to 2026

With the Title II compliance deadline arriving in April 2026 for smaller institutions, we expect enforcement activity to intensify. The time to act is now — not after a demand letter arrives in your general counsel's inbox.