Two-Year Institution and Community College Web Accessibility: Updating the Literature after the 2018 Section 508 Amendment

ABSTRACT

On January 18th, 2018, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) required all federal aid-receiving institutions of higher education (Title IV) to publish web accessible websites for people with disabilities. To be compliant with federal law, Title IV institutions must now adhere to Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 standards at the Level-A and Level-AA threshold. This study examined the web accessibility of a random sample of 325 two-year Title IV institutions in the United States and found all institutions had at least one Level-A error on their homepage, potentially violating new ADA guidelines. This study also found private, for-profit institutions published the least web accessible websites, while public institutions published the most web accessible websites. Implications for future research and practice are addressed.