Higher education's big losses are getting bigger — and campus safety leaders will feel it

Even as the number of “large loss” claims against educational institutions fell in 2025, the overall dollar amount surged — a pattern campus safety leaders should treat as an operational warning, not just a risk‐management headline, with many of these claims and settled cases regarding mishandling allegations of sexual assault. United Educators’ Large Loss Report 2026 tracks publicly reported awards and settlements of $2.5 million or more involving K‐12 schools, colleges, and universities, and it highlights how litigation costs are rising beyond normal economic inflation — a phenomenon often described as social inflation.