New on WCET Frontiers
Policy
Buckle Up. ED is Off to the Races with Its NPRM
Published by: WCET | 7/22/2024
We’ve been waiting with bated breath to see if the U.S. Department of Education would surprise us when they released the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) and proposed regulations related to the most recent negotiated rulemaking. Spoiler alert, they have now released the NPRM with proposed rules on distance education. We know that there are […]
Policy
Navigating State Barriers: Challenges for Formerly Incarcerated Students in Licensing Programs
Published by: WCET | 6/27/2024
Higher education has an important role to play when it comes to providing information to students searching for educational programs that leads to a license or certification. In that light, what information should be provided by the institution to formerly incarcerated students who are looking for professional or licensure programs? While some states do have […]
Policy
Call for Action: Contact Elected Officials About Proposed Distance Education Regulations
Published by: WCET | 4/5/2024
Important proposed regulations affecting distance education were discussed during the Department of Education’s Program Integrity and Institutional Quality negotiated rulemaking sessions that ended on March 7. In brief, you should take action: The Background On March 20th, we published a blog update on the final week of negotiated rulemaking. Despite tons of suggestions and hours of […]
Policy
Major Changes to Distance Ed: Department of Education Rulemaking Final Session Update
Published by: WCET | 3/20/2024
Major changes loom on the horizon for postsecondary distance education programs in the United States, but we are now in a temporary limbo of uncertainty. The Department of Education’s Program Integrity and Institutional Quality negotiated rulemaking sessions ended on March 7. Despite tons of suggestions and hours of discussion, none of the distance and digital […]
Policy
Major Changes to Distance Ed Proposed: Department of Education Back to Rulemaking Table
Published by: WCET | 1/18/2024
Here we go again! Significant changes to postsecondary distance education operations emerged from the U.S. Department of Education’s (Department) Winter 2024 negotiated rulemaking discussion. The proposed changes could be huge and we suggest you read or scroll through this post to see what might affect you and your students. For example, state authorization reciprocity could […]
Policy
New SARA Reciprocity Policy Modification Process Yields Proposals Intended to Increase Student Protections
Published by: WCET | 3/21/2023
Providing uniform consumer protection for distance education students located in all member states is a hallmark of the interstate reciprocity agreement known as the State Authorization Reciprocity Agreements (SARA). States that chose to join the agreement, often through state legislation […]
Policy
OPM and Third-Party Servicers Update; Your Turn to Inform the Department of Ed
Published by: WCET | 3/14/2023
The U.S. Department of Education is listening! Their February 15 press release (see our post about it) provides opportunities to inform the Department on two separate but related topic areas. We hope that you will take one or more of […]
Practice
2022 SANsational Award Winners Present Promising Compliance Solutions
Published by: WCET | 1/4/2023
Three postsecondary institutions each earned a 2022 SANsational Award for the creation of innovative processes and structures to manage state and federal regulatory compliance for out-of-state activities of the postsecondary institution. Since 2015, the State Authorization Network (SAN), a division […]
Policy
Public Opportunity to Participate in SARA Reciprocity Policy Modifications
Published by: WCET | 12/15/2022
A new SARA (State Authorization Reciprocity Agreements) Policy Modification Process was approved by its oversight Board last summer. This new process will offer increased transparency and public participation in the development of SARA Policy additions and revisions to manage reciprocity […]
Policy
New Federal Aid Rules Drop Proposed Change to “Distance Education” & Expand Pell Grants to Incarcerated Students
Published by: WCET | 11/2/2022
Image by David Mark from Pixabay ‘Tis the season for all things pumpkin, brisk mornings, and the release of new U.S. Department of Education final regulations! WCET and the State Authorization Network (SAN) have been closely following and reporting about […]