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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif">NC-SARA Maintains the Importance of Student Consumer Protections throughout the COVID-19 Pandemic<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="background:white"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:black">The National Council for State Authorization Reciprocity Agreements (NC-SARA) issued a letter to higher education stakeholder groups, to include the National
Association of Independent Colleges and Universities (NAICU) and the American Council on Education (ACE), that have raised concerns to NC-SARA about the continued use of the federal financial composite score as part of NC-SARA’s evaluative process for initial
and renewed membership. As well, the letter also offers </span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#2B2B2B;background:white">key flexibility measures for institutions.</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#555759">
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background:white"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#555759"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif">Dr. Lori Williams, NC-SARA President and CEO, is in the process of soliciting feedback from state portal entity staff through May 1, 2020, on the consideration of a temporary emergency
change to the current policy regarding the Federal Financial Composite Score requirement. Read the
<a href="https://nc-sara.org/sites/default/files/files/2020-04/NC-SARA_PressRelease_NAICU_ACE_Letters_07Apr2020.pdf">
full press release</a> at the NC-SARA website under News and Events. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Georgia",serif">SARA</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif">Southern Regional Education Board<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif">(404) 879-5517<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:blue"><a href="mailto:SARA@sreb.org">SARA@sreb.org</a></span></u><span style="font-family:"Georgia",serif"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Georgia",serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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