ADA compliance · Higher Education

ADA Title II web accessibility for colleges and universities.

Public institutions now have a WCAG 2.1 AA deadline: April 2027 or April 2028. Private institutions face Section 504 and Title III. Either way, the website is in scope.

See plans and pricing

$75

Monitor · per month

$250+

Remediate · per month

The short answer

What does ADA compliance mean for colleges and universities?

Public colleges and universities must make their web content and mobile apps conform to WCAG 2.1 Level AA under the DOJ's 2024 ADA Title II rule. After DOJ's April 2026 extension, the deadline is April 26, 2027 for institutions that are part of a state or local government serving 50,000 or more people, and April 26, 2028 for smaller ones. Private institutions that receive federal funds are covered by Section 504 and ADA Title III.

The DOJ Title II rule covers websites, mobile apps, and course content delivered through learning management systems.
Compliance dates after the April 2026 extension: April 26, 2027 (50,000+ population) and April 26, 2028 (smaller entities and special districts).
The U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights has resolved many website accessibility complaints against colleges under Section 504 and Title II.
Password-protected course content has limited exceptions in the rule, but they end once a student with a disability enrolls.

The exposure

The scale problem

A university website isn't one site. It's hundreds of department sites, a catalog, an application portal, athletics, a library, and a learning management system, often run by different teams on different platforms. Accessibility programs fail when nobody can see the whole footprint.

The biggest volume is documents and media: syllabi, board minutes, lecture recordings, and research PDFs. The rule's archived-content exception is narrow, so current course materials are in scope.

OCR complaints can be filed by any student, applicant, or member of the public. They often lead to multi-year resolution agreements with monitoring requirements.

The rules

Accessibility laws that apply to colleges and universities.

ADA Title II (2024 DOJ rule)
Who it covers
Public colleges, universities, and community colleges
Standard
WCAG 2.1 AA
Timing
April 26, 2027 (50,000+); April 26, 2028 (smaller)
Section 504
Who it covers
Any institution receiving federal financial assistance, public or private
Standard
Equal access, enforced by ED's Office for Civil Rights
Timing
In effect now
ADA Title III
Who it covers
Private colleges and universities
Standard
WCAG 2.1 AA by reference
Timing
In effect now

Accessibility laws that apply to colleges and universities
Law or rule	Who it covers	Standard	Timing
ADA Title II (2024 DOJ rule)	Public colleges, universities, and community colleges	WCAG 2.1 AA	April 26, 2027 (50,000+); April 26, 2028 (smaller)
Section 504	Any institution receiving federal financial assistance, public or private	Equal access, enforced by ED's Office for Civil Rights	In effect now
ADA Title III	Private colleges and universities	WCAG 2.1 AA by reference	In effect now

Common failures

Where campus sites fail

What we find most often on sites in this industry, and the WCAG success criterion each one fails.

Lecture and event videos without accurate captions
Where it shows up
Course sites, YouTube, news
WCAG criterion
1.2.2 Captions (Prerecorded), 1.2.4 Captions (Live)
Scanned syllabi, readings, and forms with no text layer
Where it shows up
LMS and department pages
WCAG criterion
1.1.1 Non-text Content, 1.3.1 Info and Relationships
Application portal fields without labels or error messages
Where it shows up
Admissions and financial aid
WCAG criterion
3.3.1 Error Identification, 3.3.2 Labels or Instructions
Course catalog tables with no header markup
Where it shows up
Catalog and schedules
WCAG criterion
1.3.1 Info and Relationships
Campus maps with no text alternative
Where it shows up
Visit, housing, and parking pages
WCAG criterion
1.1.1 Non-text Content
Inconsistent navigation across department sites
Where it shows up
Subsites on different themes
WCAG criterion
3.2.3 Consistent Navigation, 2.4.1 Bypass Blocks

Common accessibility barriers on websites for colleges and universities
Barrier	Where it shows up	WCAG criterion
Lecture and event videos without accurate captions	Course sites, YouTube, news	1.2.2 Captions (Prerecorded), 1.2.4 Captions (Live)
Scanned syllabi, readings, and forms with no text layer	LMS and department pages	1.1.1 Non-text Content, 1.3.1 Info and Relationships
Application portal fields without labels or error messages	Admissions and financial aid	3.3.1 Error Identification, 3.3.2 Labels or Instructions
Course catalog tables with no header markup	Catalog and schedules	1.3.1 Info and Relationships
Campus maps with no text alternative	Visit, housing, and parking pages	1.1.1 Non-text Content
Inconsistent navigation across department sites	Subsites on different themes	3.2.3 Consistent Navigation, 2.4.1 Bypass Blocks

What you get

What's included for colleges and universities.

On Monitor ($75/mo)

Footprint inventory: every domain and subsite mapped with an owner
Monthly scans across the primary site and priority subsites, with per-department reporting
Manual testing of admissions, financial aid, registration, and payment flows
Document and media inventory to size the remediation backlog

Added on Monitor + Remediate (from $250/mo)

Shared theme and component fixes so every department inherits them
PDF and document remediation, priced by volume
Caption and transcript production for public-facing video
Accessibility policy, statement, and exception log for your Title II compliance file

Pricing

ADA compliance pricing for colleges and universities.

No annual audit invoice, no widget license. Monthly pricing and work you can see in the report.

Monitor

$75/mo

Continuous WCAG 2.2 AA monitoring and a prioritized fix list your team can ship.

Baseline audit against WCAG 2.1 and 2.2 Level AA
Automated scans of your site every month, plus alerts when new issues ship
Manual checks of key templates: keyboard, screen reader, zoom, and forms
Prioritized recommendations with the exact WCAG success criterion and fix guidance
Monthly report showing open issues, resolved issues, and trend
Accessibility statement drafted for your site

Best for: Teams with a developer or agency who can implement fixes.

Start monitoring

Monitor + Remediate

$250/mo and up

Everything in Monitor, and we fix the issues in your code and content.

Everything in Monitor
We implement fixes in your theme, templates, CMS, and content
Alt text, captions, form labels, color contrast, focus order, and ARIA repairs
Accessible PDF and document remediation, quoted by volume
Regression checks after every fix and every major release
Documented remediation log you can hand to counsel or procurement

Best for: Businesses that want the issues fixed, not just reported.

Get a remediation quote

Monitor + Remediate starts at $250/mo. Final price depends on site size, number of unique templates, platform, and how much content (PDFs, video) needs remediation. You get a fixed monthly quote before anything starts.

How it works

Baseline, prioritize, fix, and keep it fixed.

01
Baseline
Automated crawl plus manual testing of your highest-traffic and highest-risk templates. You get a scored list of every WCAG failure we find.
02
Prioritize
Issues ranked by user impact and legal exposure: checkout, booking, forms, and navigation first. Cosmetic issues last.
03
Fix or hand off
On Monitor, your developers get fix-ready tickets. On Remediate, we ship the fixes and verify them.
04
Hold the line
Monthly scans and manual spot checks catch regressions from new pages, plugins, and releases before a plaintiff's scanner does.

Questions

Higher Education ADA compliance FAQ.

Does the Title II rule apply to our learning management system?

Yes. Course content delivered through Canvas, Blackboard, Moodle, or D2L is web content under the rule. Password-protected course content has an exception, but it ends once a student with a disability is enrolled and needs access. In practice, plan to make current course materials accessible.

We're a private university. Does any of this apply?

The Title II rule doesn't apply directly to private institutions. If you receive federal financial assistance, which includes federal student aid, Section 504 does, and ADA Title III applies to private universities as public accommodations. Many private schools adopt WCAG 2.1 AA anyway because it's the standard OCR uses.

Can $75 a month really cover a university?

For a single site, yes. A multi-domain university footprint is scoped separately and priced by the number of sites and templates. The $75 and $250 plans are built for individual colleges, departments, and smaller institutions. We'll quote larger footprints after the baseline.

Keep reading

More on ADA website compliance

Related industries

Other industries we cover.

Sources

Where these facts come from

Quorum is not a law firm, and this page is not legal advice. Deadlines and rules change. For advice on your situation, talk to an attorney.

Get a baseline for your site.

See every WCAG failure on your site, ranked by risk, before you commit to fixes.

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