Accrediting and Regulatory Standards for Distance Education

1. Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC)

Policy Statements

Distance and Correspondence Education

Guidelines

Addressing Distance and Correspondence Education

“A Guide for Evaluators Charged with Reviewing Distance and Correspondence Education”

Best Practices

Electronically Offered Degree and Certificate Programs

Developing Policy and Procedure Documents

Resource Manual (all SACSCOC standards)

2018 Edition of the Principles of Accreditation: Foundation for Quality Enhancement (adopted December 2017 and effective January 1, 2018)

Resource Manual for the 2018 Principles of Accreditation: Foundations for Quality Enhancement (Added March 2018)
This Manual is a companion piece to the 2018 Principles of Accreditation, providing guidance to applicant, candidate, and member institutions as well as to evaluation committees of the Commission.

2. National Council for State Authorization Reciprocity Agreements (NC-SARA)

As stated on the NC-SARA site, “The State Authorization Reciprocity Agreements, commonly known as SARA, provides a voluntary, regional approach to state oversight of postsecondary distance education....SARA’s policies help protect students and provide benefits to both states and institutions carrying out distance education in multiple states.” Georgia Highlands College maintains SARA institutional membership through the State Portal of the Georgia Nonpublic Postsecondary Education Commission (GNPEC).

NC-SARA Manual and Handbooks

Interregional Guidelines for the Evaluation of Distance Education

NC-SARA Data Reports

3. Federal Financial Aid Requirements as expressed in Title 34, Section 600 of the Electronic Code of Federal Regulations (ECFR)

Section 600 provides regulations for institutions of higher education that wish to quality for or remain qualified for Title IV financial aid funds. An institution may become ineligible for Title IV funds if more than 50 percent of its courses are “correspondence courses” as defined in that section. The definitions contained in sub-section 600.2 state that a key difference between distance education courses and correspondence courses is “regular and substantive interaction between the students and the instructor, either synchronously or asynchronously” required in distance education courses. The same language appears in SACSCOC best practices as well.

Go to the ECFR PART 600—INSTITUTIONAL ELIGIBILITY UNDER THE HIGHER EDUCATION ACT OF 1965, AS AMENDED

ECFR Part 600 Contents Related to GHC.