Interstate Reciprocity Plan Expected to Transform U.S. Distance Education
Last month, the Commission on the Regulation of Postsecondary Distance Education, a nationally prominent group of accreditors, regulators and other higher education and state leaders, unveiled a comprehensive plan detailing how states could simplify and transform the regulation of U.S. distance education.
Under the plan outlined in the commission’s Advancing Access through Regulatory Reform: Findings, Principles, and Recommendations for the State Authorization Reciprocity Agreement (SARA) report, a new interstate reciprocity system would be empowered to “streamline regulations and allow universities and colleges to more easily offer online courses” across the U.S.
The SARA report “envisions a system of interstate reciprocity that will allow institutions, states and regional compacts to work together to provide distance education opportunities to students,” commission chair and former U.S. Education Secretary Richard Riley says.
“The importance of this work cannot be overstated. The nearly 7 million students using online technology to access postsecondary education will benefit immensely from the consumer protection and quality assurances built into the commission’s proposed system of interstate reciprocity,” Riley says.
Established in May 2012, the commission has been a joint effort by the State Higher Ed Executive Officers and the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities organizations. The commission’s purpose has been to develop solutions to eliminate, or significantly reduce, costs and inefficiencies borne by postsecondary institutions that offer educational programs to students in more than one state. Currently, distance educat