Page 16 - Black Modern Annual Report A4

Academics

Non-Resident Institutions in Alabama

Out-of-state institutions offering postsecondary programs in Alabama are identified
as Non-Resident Institutions (NRI) and must be licensed or exempt from licensing by
the Private School Licensure Division in the Alabama Community College System
(ACCS). Licensing is based in part on ACHE programmatic approval or exemption
from ACHE review under specific criteria. Alabama is the only state with jurisdiction
over NRI licensure and programmatic review administered by two separate state
agencies. Since 2019 when the current ACHE policy was adopted, a total of 217 NRIs
have been exempted from programmatic review, including 17 new or renewed
exemptions in the past twelve months. The 17 NRIs exempted from ACHE review in
the past year have headquarters in the following states:

Arizona 2 California 5 Colorado 1
Georgia 1 Illinois 1 Ohio 1

Pennsylvania 1 Texas 3 Utah 2

In addition, ACHE has approved three institutions located out-of-country not
qualifying for exemptions following full programmatic review. Campuses of these
three non-exempt institutions are in Cupecoy (Sint Maarten), Barbados (West Indies),
and Basseterre, St Kitts (West Indies). Together, these 220 approved or exempted
non-resident institutions offer programs in twenty-two of the fifty-four CIP
categories.

For a current list of NRIs with ACHE programmatic approval or exemption from
review, contact NRI@ache.edu. The ACHE NRI review process is available at
https://www.ache.edu/wp-content/NRI/Prog_Review_Procedures.pdf. Information on
Alabama NRI licensing is available at https://www.accs.edu/about-accs/private-
school-licensure/.

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

NC-SARA is a private, nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization that helps students access
educational opportunities and ensures efficient, consistent, and effective regulation
of distance education programs. Since 2016, Alabama’s State Reciprocity Committee
has contracted with ACHE to be the State Portal Entity for NC-SARA. ACHE enrolls
and renews institutions as members of NC-SARA (also commonly referred to as
SARA), communicates policies and procedures to institutional contacts, and
investigates student complaints. As a result of having a uniform set of regulations
and a uniform sliding payment scale across the nation, NC-SARA member institutions
can streamline the process of becoming authorized to offer distance education
programs in other NC-SARA states, saving at least $69,797 per institution annually.
NC-SARA membership currently stands at forty-one institutions.

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