State Authorization
What is State Authorization?
Most U.S. states regulate online, distance, and correspondence education offered to
their permanent state residents. - WKU Online is actively working to expand access and deliver our fully online undergraduate, graduate, and certificate programs in every state.
- Kentucky is a member of the State Authorization Reciprocity Agreement (SARA) and WKU is an approved SARA institution.
SARA allows institutions to offer distance education courses and programs to other SARA participating institutions and ensures adherence to national standards for postsecondary distance education. We cooperate with the SARA process and with other member states to ensure that when authorization or licensure of online programs is necessary, the required approvals are secured.
WKU is currently authorized, licensed, registered, exempt or not subject to approval in all states, with the exceptions noted below.
- California – exempt without conditions
It is the student’s responsibility to understand the current status or special requirements related to the authorization of distance education in their state of residence. For more information about SARA, please visit nc-sara.org.
Data Reporting Requirements
As a SARA member, WKU must report data annually. Each spring, NC-SARA requires institutions to report the number of online students for each state as well as those participating in out-of-state learning placements (OOSLP) for all academic programs.
WKU Online works with Institutional Research to collect the online student enrollment data. Out-of-state learning placement information for the previous calendar year is collected from the academic departments and then submitted to NC-SARA during the Summer reporting window.
Complaints
Students who have complaints against the school regarding their online program can learn more about the Complaint Resolution Process here.
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