Dept of Education Issues Letter on State Authorization

See update posted March 28, 2011.

The Department of Education has issued its anticipated "Dear Colleague" letter on Program Integrity requirements, including State Authorization, and WCET's Russ Poulin has produced an excellent analysis. Note that, while Russ, ACE, and others have called for delayed implementation of these rules, and while a lawsuit has been filed to force a delay, it remains the case today that the regulations take effect July 1, 2011.

Here's an updated list of the key resources on this topic:

• Letter from Department of Education.
• Analysis by Russ Poulin (WCET) of Dep. of Education letter.
• Resource page maintained by WCET. This is an excellent, comprehensive site, including a detailed analysis of the regulation and a great deal of additional original material.
• The actual State Authorization regulation from the Department of Education.
• The Web page for WCET's "State Approval 'Starter' List", a document summarizing distance-education requirements in all states. WCET says they will no longer be updating this document, but that SHEEO (State Higher Education Executive Officers) "intends to" take on the task.
• David Moltz article in Inside Higher Ed.
• Lawsuit filed by Career College Association seeking to delay implementation of regulations.
• An Aug. 2, 2010 letter from ACE and other higher-ed associations (including EDUCAUSE) to the Department of Education expressing concern about State Authorization and a number of other new regulations.
• A March 2, 2011 letter from ACE and others (including EDUCAUSE) focused specifically on the State Authorization issue.

Steve