College students in North Carolina will soon have access to a wider range of accredited online courses available to them in the coming months. The UNC Board of Governors has approved a recommendation from UNC’s 17 constituent institutions, the North Carolina Community College and Independent College Systems to join SARA, or State Authorization Reciprocity Agreement. 

SARA is a voluntary agreement that centralizes program authorization by establishing universal standards for Distance Education courses across state lines so that an institution will only need to meet their home state’s standards to be able to offer distance education to students of any other member state.

The reciprocity agreement means that the perception of distance education courses as sub-par education could soon be a thing of the past, according to Rebecca Swanson, associate vice provost of distance and distributed education for DELTA.

“I think ultimately what [joining SARA] is going to do is remove the last barrier to that perception that Distance Education is second rate which certainly was fostered, fueled in fact, by a number of institutions that were in the business to make money, not serve students,” Swanson said. “That ability to point to a membership in something that says, ‘if you join this organization you will abide by these standards’ helps everybody.” 

The consumer assurance that SARA membership carries with it could save North Carolina money by allowing the state to avoid costly regulation fees designed to protect students from the possibility that their coursework will be discounted due to the uncertainty associated with taking an online course.  

“By having regional groups that provide reciprocity among all the states, what it says is that every state that joins SARA is going to have a common standard of student advocacy, where we are attesting to the quality of the programs we offer and that what we say we are doing and what we are delivering is happening and that students are not being given sub standard education with profit as the motivation,” Swanson said.

One of the limitations that have impacted Distance Education programs are physical presence triggers. If an institution is found to have stepped beyond the dense set of rules barring face-to-face meetings with students from another state or advertising across state lines, they could face large penalties. Even proctoring an exam could trigger a physical presence issue.

Adding to this issue is that each state interpreted these rules differently.

“If you did any online advertising you might run up against somebody in a state that had that as a physical presence factor and then are we liable because a student happened to see something on the internet that was sent out to everybody,” Swanson said. “What SARA is doing is saying ‘Let’s have some common sense around this. Let’s look at the physical presence factors let’s set things that make sense for all of us.’ If a faculty member just meets a few hours a semester [with students], that’s not a class being held in a different state, that’s within the realm of possibility for a course.” 

Some members of the Board of Governors raised concerns at their meeting in January that programs that require on site interaction could face stiffer competition from institutions around the nation recruiting in North Carolina. However, Swanson said that competition isn’t a concern for her, as long as the students are getting what they need to reach their goals. 

“I have never been that concerned about competition,” Swanson said. “I think if a student gets just the right program for themselves and their goals and aspirations, everybody’s a winner.”