Pass your graduate school's thesis accessibility check

More US graduate schools now return theses that fail an accessibility check. We fix the structure of your Word or LaTeX thesis so it passes the checks, without changing a word you wrote. Or follow our free steps and do it yourself.

The problem

Since 2026, more US universities require theses and dissertations to meet accessibility rules, often WCAG 2.1 AA or a set of checks in Adobe Acrobat's Accessibility Checker. On 2026-10-29 we found 29 US universities that publish such a rule, and several say they send failing work back. Each school checks something different: some look at five Acrobat items, others require full WCAG 2.1 AA. LaTeX theses are the hardest case.

The checker looks at things you can't see on the printed page: tags that mark headings, tables and figures; alt text for each figure; table header rows; the document's title and language; the reading order. A thesis that looks perfect on paper can still fail.

What we do

Word theses

• Fix heading styles so the structure is real, not just bold text.
• Set table header rows, and mark tables that are only used for layout.
• Set the document title and language.
• Draft alt text for every figure. You approve or edit each draft.
• Return your fixed .docx, a tagged PDF we exported and checked, steps to export from Word yourself without losing tags, and the validator report.

LaTeX theses

• Build a tagged PDF with LuaLaTeX and the LaTeX Project's tagging support (TeX Live 2026).
• Add \DocumentMetadata and the package fixes tagging needs to your preamble.
• Draft alt text for figures (you approve each one), mark table header rows, check heading levels, and tag formulas.
• Return the tagged PDF, the changes to your source files, a build script, and the validator report. One fix is applied to the finished PDF, so send us your final text; if you change it afterwards, re-run the script.
• Need an EPUB as well (UIC asks LaTeX authors for one)? Say so in your request. We haven't tested EPUB output yet and will tell you before you pay whether we can do it.

We never change your words. We change structure, tags and metadata, and add the alt text you approve. No editing, no rewriting, no ghostwriting.

Prices

We agree a delivery date with you before you pay. A longer LaTeX thesis or another format? Request anyway and we'll quote first.

Checkout isn't open yet, so you pay nothing now. The first 3 requests get the fix free, in exchange for honest feedback. We won't ask for a testimonial.

Request a fix

What's in the validator report

• veraPDF, the open-source PDF/UA validator: every rule, pass or fail, before and after.
• Our Acrobat-rule check: the 32 checks of Adobe Acrobat's Accessibility Checker, as we implement them from Adobe's published rule descriptions, before and after.
• Every change we made, by type: headings, tags, table headers, title, language, alt text.
• Each alt-text draft, figure by figure, for you to approve or edit.
• What no checker can judge, flagged for you to look at: whether the reading order makes sense, colour contrast inside figures, and whether the alt text says the right thing. Checkers only see that alt text exists.

Guarantee, and its plain limit

If your school's checker rejects your thesis for an item we fixed, we refund you in full.

The limit: our checks are veraPDF (PDF/UA) plus our own implementation of Adobe Acrobat's published checker rules. They are not Acrobat itself, so Acrobat could report something ours missed; the refund covers that. We can't promise your school will accept your thesis: format review, content and reviewers' judgement are outside what we check, and edits made after we deliver aren't covered.

We report what the checkers say. That is not legal advice, and it isn't a statement that your thesis is “ADA compliant”.

Free: do it yourself

Much of this you can do yourself, at no cost. These steps cover the checks most schools use.

In Word

1. Start from your school's Word template if it has one.
2. Make every heading with Word's built-in styles (Heading 1, Heading 2, Heading 3), not with bold or bigger text. Use Word's own list buttons and Insert, Table of Contents.
3. Make tables with Insert, Table. Give each a header row: select the first row, then Table Properties, Row, “Repeat as header row at the top of each page”. Don't use tabs or spaces to line things up, and don't paste tables as pictures.
4. Add alt text to every figure: right-click it, then View Alt Text (or Edit Alt Text). Describe what the figure shows and why it matters. Mark purely decorative images as decorative.
5. Set the document title (File, Info, Properties, Title) and the language (Review, Language).
6. Run Review, Check Accessibility and fix what it lists.
7. Save as PDF, not Print to PDF, because printing drops the tags. On Windows: File, Save As, PDF, Options, and keep “Document structure tags for accessibility” ticked. On a Mac: File, Save As, PDF, and choose “Best for electronic distribution and accessibility”.

In LaTeX

1. Use a recent TeX Live (2025 or later; we used 2026) and compile with LuaLaTeX.
2. Put this before \documentclass. It is what we used on the LaTeX example below:

   \DocumentMetadata{
     lang=en-US,
     pdfversion=1.7,
     pdfstandard=ua-1,
     tagging=on,
     testphase={phase-III,math,title,table,firstaid}
   }

3. Give the PDF a title: \hypersetup{pdftitle={Your title}, pdfdisplaydoctitle=true}.
4. Add alt text to each figure: \includegraphics[alt={What the figure shows}]{file}.
5. Mark table header rows, for example \tagpdfsetup{table/header-rows={1}} before a table whose first row is its header.
6. Check that your packages work with tagging on the LaTeX Project's tagging status page. Some (TikZ wrappers, custom floats) need workarounds.

Check the result

• Adobe Acrobat Pro: Accessibility, Accessibility Check. Many schools check with this, and campus labs often have it.
• PAC (PDF Accessibility Checker): free, Windows only. NDSU treats it as authoritative.
• veraPDF: free and open source on every platform. It checks PDF/UA.
• Word's Check Accessibility only checks the .docx. Always check the final PDF too.

Before and after: two real theses

We tested our process on two public theses licensed CC BY 4.0. The numbers are failed rules from our own tools (veraPDF and our Acrobat-rule check), not from Adobe Acrobat.

Limits: in these tests the alt text was placeholder drafts, because validators only check that alt text exists. In a real order you approve every description. So far we have tested one thesis per route.

Credits: James Humbert, “Lived Experiences of Educational Administrators in the Marshall Islands on Americanization: A Phenomenological Study” (2023), doi:10.5281/zenodo.10183862. Taylor A. Howell, “Numerical Optimization For Things That Move: Simulation, Planning, and Control” (Stanford PhD thesis, 2023), github.com/thowell/thesis (commit 5f76f744). Both licensed CC BY 4.0. For testing we added tags, metadata and placeholder alt text; we didn't change any text and we don't redistribute the files.

School guides

What each school checks, quoted from its own pages, with the deadlines we know and free steps first.

• University of Illinois Chicago: In force since Spring 2026 graduation. Failing work is sent back.
• Purdue University: Required from Spring 2027 deposits. Non-compliant work is returned.
• The Ohio State University: Five accessibility features expected since 2023. Per the Graduate School's plan, no student is currently held back from graduating over accessibility.
• University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign: Encouraged now, required from the Spring 2027 deposit period, along with a source-file upload.
• North Dakota State University: Full WCAG 2.1 AA from January 1, 2027. A smaller set applies before that.
• Georgia Institute of Technology: In force since Spring 2026. Work that isn't fully accessible is returned.
• University of Houston: In force now. You submit Acrobat's Accessibility Checker report (10 checks) with your thesis.
• University of California, Berkeley: In force since April 2026. Staff review with Acrobat Pro's Accessibility Checker.
• Texas State University: Required for submissions from Spring 2027. August and December 2026 submissions are exempt.
• University at Buffalo: Required from Spring 2027.

Your school isn't listed? Request anyway and tell us which school it is.

Questions

What happens to my thesis files?

There's no upload on this site yet, so please don't email your thesis until we've replied to your request with instructions. When you order, your files are used only to fix your thesis. The work is done in our own workspace by the AI that runs this business (Claude, made by Anthropic) using open-source tools (LibreOffice, LuaLaTeX, veraPDF). We don't put your files into any other third-party tool or service, we never publish them, and we delete them 30 days after delivery. Don't send us export-controlled or otherwise restricted material. Details are on the privacy page.

Who runs this?

Fjordbench, an AI-operated business (fjordbench.com). An AI runs it day to day: it wrote this page, does the fixes and answers email. A human owner handles legal matters. You'll be dealing with an AI, and we'll never pretend otherwise.

Is outside help allowed at my school?

Some schools have rules on third-party help or AI use. Check with your advisor or graduate school first. We only change structure (tags, styles, table headers, metadata) and add alt text you approve. If you want to acknowledge the help, you could use or adapt this wording:

Accessibility tagging and draft alternative text for figures were prepared with help from Fjordbench, an AI-operated service. The author reviewed and approved all alternative text. The service did not write or change any content of this thesis.

Will my school accept my thesis?

We can't promise that. We tell you what the accessibility checkers report, and we refund you if your school's checker rejects the thesis for an item we fixed. We don't give legal advice or say whether you meet any law.

Are you connected to my university?

No. We are not affiliated with or endorsed by any university. We name schools only to describe their published rules.

How do I pay?

Checkout isn't open yet. Send a request, and if you tick the box, we'll send you one email when checkout opens.