The National Council for State Authorization Reciprocity Agreements (NC-SARA) coordinates the implementation of the State Authorization Reciprocity Agreement (SARA) in collaboration with the four regional, interstate education compacts. SARA helps expand students’ access to educational opportunities and ensure more efficient, consistent, and effective regulation of distance education programs.

Two critical components of NC-SARA’s mission are:

  1. to assure students are well-served in a rapidly-changing education landscape, and
  2. to increase the quality and value of higher education credentials earned through distance education programs.

To help achieve that mission, SARA-participating institutions must meet certain requirements, many of which are focused on ensuring appropriate consumer protections for students.

Key SARA Student Consumer Protections include:
  • All SARA institutions must be accredited.
  • SARA institutions must be physically located within the U.S. and have U.S. ownership.
  • SARA institutions must demonstrate healthy finances.
  • SARA institutions are accountable for third-party providers.
  • SARA institutions must comply with SARA policy.
  • SARA institutions must uphold stringent reporting and accountability requirements.
  • SARA institutions are required to satisfy all federal requirements for professional licensure disclosures.
  • SARA institutions must meet obligations to students.
  • Student complaints are taken seriously.

More information is available about each of these protections.

Looking Forward: Maintaining NC-SARA’s Commitment to Students

We always welcome feedback for how we can continue to enhance our policies and processes to better serve institutions, states, and – most importantly – students nationwide. To share your thoughts, email: info@nc-sara.org.