The U.S. Department of Education has announced rules requiring all institutions of higher education participating in Title IV programs to be able to document compliance with state laws in all states where they offer distance or correspondence education. The Department has indicated that compliance with existing state laws has always been a condition of Title IV eligibility, and the announced regulation simply calls attention to the need for institutions to assure they have legal authority to operate in all the states where they are providing instruction.

To address this need, SHEEO, the national association of state higher education executive officers, is developing a directory of agencies and individuals responsible for implementing state quality assurance laws as well as a compendium of state laws and regulations. The directory is being developed in close cooperation with NCHEMS, the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems, whose Vice President Peter Ewell has led previous surveys of state regulatory practices for postsecondary instruction and the cooperative relationships of states with accrediting associations.

The directory of state regulatory agencies is complete, and survey results summarizing the laws and practices of 51 of these agencies is now posted below. The remaining survey results will be posted as soon as they are available.

We gratefully acknowledge the assistance of our colleagues in the state agencies who have provided this information, and the members and organizations represented on the SHEEO State Authorization Advisory Board who have contributed generously to this project.

For more information please contact either Marianne Boeke at 303-497-0357 (Marianne@nchems.org) or Stacey Zis at 303-497-0370 (Stacey@nchems.org)

Presidents' Forum Project: Multi-State Reciprocity in Postsecondary Approval and Regulation
This link will provide access to current information about the Presidents' Forum Multi-State Reciprocity project.

The project's paper, Toward A Model Template Upon Which An Interstate Reciprocity Compact Of College And University Program Authorization Could Be Based, can be found at this link (PDF)

To comment on the paper, please contact:

Paul H. Shiffman, Ed.D.
Assistant Vice President for Strategic and Governmental Relations - Excelsior College
Telephone: (518) 464-8803 E-mail: pshiffman@excelsior.edu

Press Releases and Presentations:
Press Release on Directory Development - April 15, 2011 (PDF)

SHEEO President Paul Lingenfelter's presentation at the President's Forum - March 28, 2011 (PDF)

Other Links:
WCET’s State Approval Regulations for Distance Education: A “Starter List” with addendum

General information regarding state authorization including the federal regulations

Eduardo Ochoa's "Dear Colleague" Letter from April 20, 2011

Eduardo Ochoa's "Dear Colleague" Letter from March 17, 2011