The State Authorization Reciprocity Agreement is an agreement among member states, districts, and U.S. territories that establishes comparable nationwide standards for interstate offering of postsecondary distance education courses and programs. The reciprocity allows participating Mississippi colleges and universities to offer distance programs and courses to residents of member states without seeking state-by-state approval, and is intended to make it easier for students to take online courses offered by postsecondary institutions based in another state. SARA is overseen by a National Council (NC-SARA),and is administered by four regional education compacts.
Click here to view a listing of states and institutions currently participating in SARA.
Mississippi institutions participating in SARA must:
- Be a degree-granting institution, awarding associate degrees or higher;
- Be physically located in a SARA member state;
- Hold proper authorization from Congress, a U.S. state, territory, or district, or a federally recognized Indian tribe to award degrees;
- Hold accreditation as a single entity from an accrediting agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education and whose scope of recognition, as specified by the U.S. Department of Education, includes distance education;
- If a non-public institution, meet the institutional financial responsibility requirements for SARA participation set forth in Section 2.5(c and d) herein;
- Agree that, in cases where the institution cannot fully deliver the instruction for which a student has contracted, it will provide a reasonable alternative for delivering the instruction or reasonable financial compensation for the education the student did not receive;
- Be accredited by a recognized accrediting agency (not "pre-accredited," or in "candidacy") to quality for participation in SARA.
Fees
Institutions approved to participate in SARA may renew annually by submitting a renewal application to MCCA along with the MCCA fee. If approved, the institution will also submit a fee to NC-SARA.
