The National Council for State Authorization Reciprocity Agreements (NC-SARA), with support from the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems (NCHEMS), has just released a newly updated report that illustrates the cost savings associated with SARA participation for colleges and universities.

SARA establishes comparable national standards for interstate distance education program offerings. These reciprocity agreements help streamline distance education regulations, improve coordination between states and higher education institutions, reduce costly application fees and staff time, and help ensure member states and participating institutions adhere to a set of basic consumer protections for students.

According to the report findings, SARA helps roughly 2,400 participating institutions save a total of $953 million for initial authorization and approximately $488 million annually on renewals. Read our latest report – and access and use the SARA Cost Savings Calculator – to learn more about the cost savings for colleges and universities participating in SARA. Overall, the average institution would spend more than 60 times as much for initial authorization and 35 times as much annually on renewals if it did not participate in SARA.

A summary and the full report can be accessed on the SARA Cost Savings webpage. There is also a SARA Cost Savings Calculator, which allows institutions to estimate their own cost savings based on factors such as institutional size and program offerings.

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