Universities & Higher Education is one of the most targeted industries for ADA lawsuits in Massachusetts. The combination of Massachusetts's significantly elevated lawsuit volume (80+/year) and the inherent accessibility challenges of universities & higher education websites creates substantial legal exposure.
OCR higher ed investigations
Resolution agreements
University sites with WCAG issues
Under MA Anti-Discrimination Law, universities & higher education businesses in Massachusetts face specific liability for website accessibility violations. Massachusetts has strong anti-discrimination protections that extend to web accessibility. Boston's tech sector means high awareness of digital accessibility requirements. This means that a single accessibility complaint against your universities & higher education website could result in statutory damages, attorney's fees, and mandatory remediation.
Universities receive federal funding, triggering Section 508 requirements on top of ADA. The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) actively investigates complaints about inaccessible educational technology and websites.
Prioritize your LMS and course registration system — audit both for keyboard navigation and screen reader compatibility, and require vendors to provide current VPATs. Establish a captioning workflow for all lecture videos and multimedia content, including a process for faculty to request captioning for new recordings. Train content creators across departments on accessible document creation, focusing on tagged PDFs, heading structure, and alt text for academic figures. Create an accessibility review checklist for all new web content, event pages, and digital publications before they go live.
Massachusetts has been active in enforcing web accessibility for healthcare and education websites. Universities & Higher Education businesses in Massachusetts should treat ADA website compliance as an urgent priority given the state's enforcement environment and the industry's high target profile.
Yes. Under both the federal ADA and MA Anti-Discrimination Law, universities & higher education businesses in Massachusetts that serve the public must ensure their websites are accessible to people with disabilities. This includes meeting WCAG 2.1 Level AA standards.
Massachusetts sees 80+/year ADA web accessibility lawsuits per year across all industries. Universities & Higher Education is among the most frequently targeted in MA. Lawsuits typically settle for $10,000-$75,000+.
The most common violations for universities & higher education websites include course registration systems not keyboard navigable, lms content without proper heading structure, lecture videos without captions or transcripts. These issues are the primary targets for ADA plaintiff attorneys in Massachusetts.
Under MA Anti-Discrimination Law, universities & higher education businesses can face statutory damages, compensatory damages, attorney's fees, and injunctive relief. Defense costs alone typically exceed $25,000, making proactive compliance far more cost-effective.
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