Boulder, CO — A comprehensive framework for redesigning state financial aid programs has been proposed in a concept paper from the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE). The report, which was one among many commissioned by Lumina Foundation to consider comprehensive financial aid reform, makes a series of proposals to align governmental and institutional policies and leverage financial resources to promote the greatest possible access, affordability, and eventual success in attaining higher education.
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Boulder, Colorado — Russ Poulin has been selected by the U.S. Department of Education as a representative for upcoming negotiated rulemaking sessions to review proposed regulations concerning program integrity and improvement issues for the Federal Student Aid programs. Poulin serves as interim co-executive director and deputy director, research and analysis for WCET (WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies). He and Marshall Hill, who has previously served on three such rulemaking sessions, will represent the field of distance education in the process.
Boulder, CO – The Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE) has just launched the Interstate Passport, a new block transfer framework based on learning outcomes, not courses and credits. Sixteen institutions in four states involved in the pilot project – Hawai‘i, North Dakota, Oregon, and Utah – are signatories to the Interstate Passport Agreement. Other WICHE states and institutions can now apply for Passport status. The goal of the initiative is to create a more friction free pathway for students to transfer their general education or liberal arts core from institutions in one state to those in another. In recent years, after realizing that swirling was common, states have moved to provide uniform transfer opportunities within states. The Passport is designed to extend these strategies to the entire western region of states and beyond. The project is poised to address quality issues as well as to increase completion rates for the nation.
Boulder, Colorado — The National Council for State Authorization Reciprocity Agreements (NC-SARA) has launched its website and released guidelines, FAQs, and other information for states and institutions that want to streamline the approval process for interstate operations of distance education. SARA, funded by a $2.3 million grant from Lumina Foundation, is a national initiative that will make distance education courses more accessible to students across state lines, as well as making it easier for states to regulate and institutions to participate in interstate distance education. The Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE), which manages the grant and is home to the NC-SARA offices, along with its regional partners – the Midwestern Higher Education Compact (MHEC), the New England Board of Higher Education (NEBHE), and the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) – will create interstate reciprocity in the regulation of postsecondary distance education.
Boulder, Colorado — Marshall Hill has been appointed the executive director of the National Council for State Authorization Reciprocity Agreements (NC-SARA), a new initiative that will create interstate reciprocity in the regulation of postsecondary distance education. The initiative, funded by a $2.3 million grant from Lumina Foundation, brings together the four regional higher education compacts – the Midwestern Higher Education Compact, New England Board of Higher Education, Southern Regional Education Board, and Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education – to work to make distance education courses more accessible to students across state lines, as well as making it easier for states to regulate and institutions to participate in interstate distance education.
Boulder, Colorado — The Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE) and its partners have been awarded a $2.3 million grant from Lumina Foundation for a national initiative that will make distance education courses more accessible to students across state lines, as well as making it easier for states to regulate and institutions to participate in interstate distance education. WICHE and its regional partners – the Midwestern Higher Education Compact (MHEC), the New England Board of Higher Education (NEBHE), and the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) – along with the Presidents’ Forum, the Council of State Governments (CSG), and the Commission on Regulation of Postsecondary Distance Education, created by the State Higher Education Executive Officers (SHEEO) and the Association of Public Land-grant Universities (APLU), worked together to forge a national initiative, the State Authorization Reciprocity Agreement (SARA), that will create interstate reciprocity in the regulation of postsecondary distance education.