SARA Neg Reg Call To Action
SARA CALL TO ACTION: NEGOTIATED RULEMAKING LANGUAGE THREATENS SARA’S GAINS
The final week of the Department of Education’s Negotiated Rulemaking process for 2022 is March 14-18, 2022. Issue Paper #6 (Certification Procedures), to be discussed by the committee, includes language that would directly impact and drastically limit the application of SARA. This issue is regarding § 668.14 Program Participation Agreement, Subsection (32)(iii) (see page 7). (We anticipate this will be posted soon on the Neg Reg website.)
While the language as currently proposed would still allow for a single institutional application and a single fee, arguably the most important part of reciprocity – enhanced student consumer protection – would go away. In a nutshell, should this proposed language move forward, the gains we’ve all experienced with SARA since 2014 would be nullified, and we would all move backwards to the patchwork of state authorization distance education regulations that existed before SARA.
Please help protect students and SARA by writing a letter at your earliest convenience, participating in public comments, and/or tuning in to the meetings.
