The Department of Education released Friday July 22 their proposed regulations on State Authorization, following an earlier failure to reach consensus as part of negotiated rule making. State authorization for distance education — the proposed regulation for institutions administering a program in which a distance or online education student is present in another state. The administration has proposed that institutions must verify that they have been authorized to operate in any state (and potentially, foreign governments) in which their distance education students may be taking a course or study. The rule has always applied to institutions’ presence in a state which they are physically located, these proposed regulations try to determine how the institution must be authorized when their students are located in a state in which the institution does not have a physical presence. The administration’s proposed regulations contain widened compliance requirements for institutions.

The Department of Education is allowing a 30-day public comment period, ending August 24th. We encourage your institution to submit comments at www.regulations.gov.

For more information on the Department’s regulations, click here.

For the full text of the regulations, click here.