Nebraska has been approved for participation in a national reciprocity agreement that will streamline the process for institutions to offer distance learning courses to out-of-state students.
The State Authorization Reciprocity Agreement (SARA) is an agreement among member states that establishes comparable national standards for interstate offering of postsecondary distance education courses and programs. It is intended to make it easier for students to take online courses offered by postsecondary institutions based in another state.
SARA is overseen by the National Council for State Authorization Reciprocity Agreements (NC-SARA) and administered by four regional education compacts—the Midwestern Higher Education Compact (MHEC), in Nebraska’s case. Nebraska legislation has designated the Coordinating Commission as the state’s portal agency for SARA, meaning Nebraska institutions will apply to the Coordinating Commission to participate. Once approved, the institutions can offer distance learning courses to students from states also participating in SARA. Without SARA, institutions must apply to each state for approval before they can offer distance-learning courses to its residents.
Nebraska, through the Coordinating Commission, received approval to participate in SARA from MHEC’s Executive Committee and now becomes the eighth state in the country to join SARA. Nebraska institutions can apply to participate in SARA via the Coordinating Commission’s website. SARA is funded by a $2.3 million grant from Lumina Foundation, an independent, private foundation committed to increasing the proportion of Americans with high-quality degrees, certificates and other credentials to 60 percent by 2025.
For more information on Nebraska’s participation in SARA, please contact Jason Keese at the Coordinating Commission: 402-471-0023 or jason.keese@nebraska.gov