The National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) has criticized the intense amount of studying required by students as "excess fact-mongering". In the 1980s, the Association did not endorse Academic Decathlon, citing what it believes was an excessive amount of time involved with the studying necessary to win. It stated that while it is not opposed to the academic portion of the competition, it disliked the "national dimension" of it. However, beginning in 2008, the Association placed USAD on their "National Advisory List of Student Contests and Activities". The list consists of programs that a NASSP committee believes meets their requisite quality standards.