Boulder, Colorado – Alaska, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada and Washington have been approved by the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE) as the first states in the compact’s region to become members of the WICHE State Authorization Reciprocity Agreement (W-SARA). Combined, these states have 258 accredited higher education institutions. These states join Indiana and North Dakota, which were approved by the Midwestern Higher Education Compact (MHEC) in February and April, respectively. SARA is a nationwide initiative of states that will make distance education courses more accessible to students across state lines and make it easier for states to regulate and institutions to participate in interstate distance education. The effort is funded by a $2.3 million grant from Lumina Foundation.
Newsroom
Coronavirus (COVID-19) Resources
WICHE is closely monitoring the outbreak of “SARS-CoV-2,” and the disease it causes, which has been named “coronavirus disease 2019” (abbreviated “COVID-19”). To inform and facilitate your response to a rapidly changing situation, WICHE has compiled the following set of resources, which will be updated as new information becomes available.
Media Releases
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.
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 — 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.