State Authorization

State Authorization is a legal issue dealing with a college’s adherence to state requirements for colleges to secure authorization to offer instruction in that state. Compliance with individual state requirements is now part of the Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA) of 2008, Amended in 2010. In addition, an institution’s compliance with State Authorization requirements is included in the criteria reviewed by accrediting bodies during an institution’s accreditation or reaccreditation process.

HEOA § 600.9 (c)  State Authorization

If an institution is offering post-secondary education through distance or correspondence education to students in a State in which it is not physically located or in which it is otherwise subject to State jurisdiction as determined by the State, the institution must meet any State requirements for it to be legally offering post-secondary distance or correspondence education in that State. An institution must be able to document to the Secretary the State’s approval upon request.

What is Rowan-Cabarrus doing to comply with State Authorization?

While most of our online students live within the state of North Carolina, and we do not recruit from nor market to outside states, we comply with the Federal Requirements by monitoring incoming applications for out-of-state students who may wish to register for courses. Rowan-Cabarrus has also applied and been approved to participate in the National Council for State Authorization Reciprocity Agreement (NC-SARA). Through this agreement, Rowan-Cabarrus is authorized to offer online courses to residents of U.S. states and territories who are members of NC-SARA.