Space between heading 'Contents' and the first line in ToC

Question

The MWE is as follows:

\documentclass[12pt,letter]{report}

\usepackage[titles]{tocloft}

\usepackage[compact,tiny]{titlesec}

\begin{document}

\setcounter{tocdepth}{3}

\setlength\cftaftertoctitleskip{0pt}

\titlespacing*{\chapter}{0.00in}{0.48in}{5mm}
\titleformat{\chapter}[display]{\normalfont\normalsize\filcenter}{%
  \centering\chaptertitlename\ \thechapter}{0pt}{\normalsize\uppercase}

\renewcommand{\contentsname}{TABLE OF CONTENTS}
\renewcommand{\cftchapfont}{\normalsize}
\renewcommand{\cftchappagefont}{\normalsize}
\renewcommand{\cftchapleader}{\normalsize\cftdotfill{\cftchapdotsep}}

\tableofcontents

\univchapter[first chapter]{first chapter}
some text
\univchapter[second chapter]{second chapter}
some more text
\end{document}

The definition of \univchapter is

\newcommand\univchapter{\if@openright\cleardoublepage\else\clearpage\fi
                    \thispagestyle{plain}%
                    \global\@topnum\z@
                    \@afterindentfalse
                    \secdef\@univchapter\@schapter}

\def\@univchapter[#1]#2{\ifnum \c@secnumdepth >\m@ne
                         \refstepcounter{chapter}%
                         \typeout{\@chapapp\space\thechapter.}%
                         \addcontentsline{toc}{chapter}%
                                   {\chaptername\, \protect\numberline{\thechapter} \uppercase{#1}}%
                    \else
                    \addcontentsline{toc}{chapter}{\chaptername\, \uppercase{#1}}%
                    \fi
                    \chaptermark{#1}%
                    \addtocontents{lof}{\protect\addvspace{10\p@}}%
                    \addtocontents{lot}{\protect\addvspace{10\p@}}%
                    \if@twocolumn
                      \@topnewpage[\@makechapterhead{#2}]%
                    \else
                      \@makechapterhead{#2}%
                      \@afterheading
                    \fi}

The error it generates while creating a MWE and also while executing the code with your suggestion is Use of \@ doesnt match its definition. \univchapter...i\thispagestyle{plain}global \@t opnum\z@afterindentfal....

Answer 1

You can use the tocloft package and change the length \cftaftertoctitleskip; a little example (instead of 0pt, you can use the length that best suits your needs):

\documentclass[12pt,letter]{report}
\usepackage{tocloft}

\setlength\cftaftertoctitleskip{0pt}

\begin{document}

\tableofcontents
\chapter{first chapter}
some text
\chapter{second chapter}
some more text
\end{document}

To be consistent, you might also want to change \cftafterlottitleskip (for the LoT) and \cftafterloftitleskip (for the LoF).

Since the titles option for tocloft is being used (as it is now clear from an edit to the original question), changes to \cftaftertoctitleskip will have no effect; in this case, a possible solution would be to patch the \tableofcontents, \listoffigures, and \listoftables commands to add some negative space; here's an example with the new settings provided in the edits to the original question:

\documentclass[12pt,letterpaper]{report}
\usepackage[titles]{tocloft}
\usepackage[compact,tiny]{titlesec}
\usepackage{etoolbox}

\makeatletter
\patchcmd{\tableofcontents}{\@starttoc{toc}}{\vskip-10pt\@starttoc{toc}}{}{}
\patchcmd{\listoffigures}{\@starttoc{lof}}{\vskip-10pt\@starttoc{lof}}{}{}
\patchcmd{\listoftables}{\@starttoc{lot}}{\vskip-10pt\@starttoc{lot}}{}{}
\makeatother

\makeatletter
\newcommand\univchapter{\if@openright\cleardoublepage\else\clearpage\fi
                    \thispagestyle{plain}%
                    \global\@topnum\z@
                    \@afterindentfalse
                    \secdef\@univchapter\@schapter}

\def\@univchapter[#1]#2{\ifnum \c@secnumdepth >\m@ne
                         \refstepcounter{chapter}%
                         \typeout{\@chapapp\space\thechapter.}%
                         \addcontentsline{toc}{chapter}%
                                   {\chaptername\, \protect\numberline{\thechapter} \uppercase{#1}}%
                    \else
                    \addcontentsline{toc}{chapter}{\chaptername\, \uppercase{#1}}%
                    \fi
                    \chaptermark{#1}%
                    \addtocontents{lof}{\protect\addvspace{10\p@}}%
                    \addtocontents{lot}{\protect\addvspace{10\p@}}%
                    \if@twocolumn
                      \@topnewpage[\@makechapterhead{#2}]%
                    \else
                      \@makechapterhead{#2}%
                      \@afterheading
                    \fi}
\makeatother

\setcounter{tocdepth}{3}

\titlespacing*{\chapter}{0.00in}{0.48in}{5mm}
\titleformat{\chapter}[display]{\normalfont\normalsize\filcenter}{%
  \centering\chaptertitlename\ \thechapter}{0pt}{\normalsize\uppercase}

\renewcommand{\contentsname}{TABLE OF CONTENTS}
\renewcommand{\cftchapfont}{\normalsize}
\renewcommand{\cftchappagefont}{\normalsize}
\renewcommand{\cftchapleader}{\normalsize\cftdotfill{\cftchapdotsep}}

\begin{document}

\tableofcontents

\univchapter[first chapter]{first chapter}
some text
\univchapter[second chapter]{second chapter}
some more text
\end{document}