New York Approves Regulations – Moving Ahead with SARA

At the September 13, 2016 meeting of the NYS Board of Regents, New York State’s participation in the State Authorization Reciprocity Agreement (SARA) was approved.  This action has New York institutions and students one step closer to enjoying the benefits of SARA participation such as providing set quality standards and safeguards, improving consumer protection, creating a more efficient provision of distance education to a broader market, enhancing the overall quality of distance education, and reducing rapidly growing institutional costs that can be passed along to students.

“As a member of the reciprocity agreement, New York’s institutions of higher learning will save much-needed resources by only having to pay for SARA approval and participation once in New York State rather than individually to each state in which they would like to do business,” State Education Department Commissioner MaryEllen Elia said. “Savings for higher education institutions can help bring down costs for students as well as provide safeguards in the online marketplace.”

There are currently 43 states and districts participating in SARA.