From kfoster at osrhe.edu Fri Nov 1 14:57:53 2019 From: kfoster at osrhe.edu (Foster, Kyle) Date: Fri, 1 Nov 2019 19:57:53 +0000 Subject: [S-SARA] SARA and HCM2 In-Reply-To: References: <29507d1d08244644b8a54c1489b690e6@osrhe.edu> Message-ID: <15e3d23a1c6740b0a3888e98ba4b61f5@osrhe.edu> Hi, everyone. Just in case anyone was wondering, here is the letter we sent to the institution with approval from our legal counsel. We are working on getting signatures for the paperwork for NC-SARA. Have a great weekend! Kyle Dear Dr. [NAME]: Re: [INSTITUTION] SARA Participation At their [DATE] meeting, the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education approved [INSTITUTION]'s request to renew participation in the State Authorization Reciprocity Agreement (SARA) for another year. As you are aware, the National Council for State Authorization Reciprocity Agreements (NC-SARA) has established guidelines for institutions to be eligible for participation in SARA. When applying for initial approval or renewal in SARA, institutions affirm their commitment to abide by these guidelines. For non-public institutions, this includes maintaining a financial responsibility index score from the U.S. Department of Education (USDE) of 1.0-1.49 for provisional approval or at least 1.5 for full approval. On August 14, 2019, USDE published updated financial responsibility index scores for non-public institutions. [INSTITUTION]'s published score was 0.2, placing the institution below the range of eligibility to participate in SARA. Therefore, [INSTITUTION]'s approval to participate in SARA is withdrawn effective immediately. [INSTITUTION] may reapply for participation in SARA once it meets all requirements for participation. If you have any questions, please contact me by email at kfoster at osrhe.edu or by telephone at (405) 225-9163. Sincerely, Kyle Foster Assistant Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Kyle Foster Assistant Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education 655 Research Parkway, Suite 200 | Oklahoma City, OK 73104 P: +1 405 225 9163 | F: +1 405 225 9300 | E: kfoster at osrhe.edu [OK_RegentHighEdu_4c_horz] From: S-SARA [mailto:s-sara-bounces at lists.onenet.net] On Behalf Of Levy, Sarah (CPE) Sent: Tuesday, October 29, 2019 10:51 AM To: s-sara at lists.onenet.net Subject: Re: [S-SARA] SARA and HCM2 Kyle, Sharing with the group: We have proposed amendment to our licensing regulation re: HCM to require institutions to notify us within 10 days of HCM placement and re: coverage for unearned tuition - you can see the full agenda item starts at page 41, and specifically the proposed language re: HCM is on page 58: http://cpe.ky.gov/aboutus/agendas/cpe_meetings/agenda-103119.pdf . * To clarify, this proposed amended licensing regulation 13 KAR 1:020 is a different regulation from our SARA regulation 13 KAR 4:010. * The next step in the process regarding this proposed amended licensing regulation is that it is on the agenda for the LRC's Administrative Regulation Review Subcommittee meeting on November 12 https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/CommitteeDocuments/3/12152/Tentative%20ARRS%20November%20Agenda.pdf . In addition, I have scheduled on my calendar to check the USDoE webpage re: HCM status as USDoE updates it quarterly, and that is also part my financial review that I do as part of our annual licensure renewal process. https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/about/data-center/school/hcm * FYI - Here are two articles that provide a bit of history regarding two KY institutions that were on HCM2 and closed, and the USDoE's decision to start posting HCM status on its webpage beginning in 2015: o https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/03/26/education-dept-keeps-secret-names-colleges-found-be-risky-students-taxpayers o https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/03/30/education-department-will-release-list-colleges-found-be-risky-students-taxpayers o As note, one of the KY institutions, Mid-Continent University, had a federal financial responsibility score of 3.0 at the time it was placed on HCM2. Another thought: Is the institution you reference also on probation with its accreditor, or about to be? When an institution that we license is on probation with its accreditor, the institution must notify us and submit an application to us re: change in accreditation status, and we have option to issue a conditional license. With respect to SARA, we have not yet had an instance where we had a SARA institution placed on HCM2 (we didn't join SARA until 2016, after our two HCM2 institutions closed). But if we ever do, we would contact NC-SARA and SREB to make sure we were doing what needed to be done. Hope this helps! Best, Sarah Levy, J.D. Executive Director, Postsecondary Licensing Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education 1024 Capital Center Drive, Suite 320 Frankfort, KY 40601 Phone: (502) 892-3034 Fax: (502) 573-1535 Email: sarah.levy at ky.gov This message may contain sensitive or confidential student and/or academic information and is for the exclusive use of the intended recipient(s). If you have received this communication in error, please return it to the sender indicating that you received it by mistake and delete the email. From: S-SARA On Behalf Of Foster, Kyle Sent: Monday, October 28, 2019 1:36 PM To: 's-sara at lists.onenet.net' Subject: [S-SARA] SARA and HCM2 Good afternoon, S-SARA colleagues. I hope this Monday is treating everyone well! I wanted to toss out a question to get everyone's perspectives and hopefully learning something new. Our office was cc'd on a letter today informing a SARA-participating institution that they have been placed on Heightened Cash Monitoring 2 (HCM2). The institution is set to renew in January 2020. Do your states have a procedure when you are notified that a school has been placed on HCM? If so, do you act immediately or wait for the renewal? Thanks! Kyle Kyle Foster Assistant Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education 655 Research Parkway, Suite 200 | Oklahoma City, OK 73104 P: +1 405 225 9163 | F: +1 405 225 9300 | E: kfoster at osrhe.edu [OK_RegentHighEdu_4c_horz] -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: image002.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 9594 bytes Desc: image002.jpg URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: image003.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 9594 bytes Desc: image003.jpg URL: From Sarah.Levy at ky.gov Fri Nov 1 16:16:00 2019 From: Sarah.Levy at ky.gov (Levy, Sarah (CPE)) Date: Fri, 1 Nov 2019 21:16:00 +0000 Subject: [S-SARA] SARA and HCM2 In-Reply-To: <15e3d23a1c6740b0a3888e98ba4b61f5@osrhe.edu> References: <29507d1d08244644b8a54c1489b690e6@osrhe.edu> <15e3d23a1c6740b0a3888e98ba4b61f5@osrhe.edu> Message-ID: Kyle, Thank you for sharing! Hope you and others on this list have a great weekend, too! Best, Sarah Levy, J.D. Executive Director, Postsecondary Licensing Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education 1024 Capital Center Drive, Suite 320 Frankfort, KY 40601 Phone: (502) 892-3034 Fax: (502) 573-1535 Email: sarah.levy at ky.gov This message may contain sensitive or confidential student and/or academic information and is for the exclusive use of the intended recipient(s). If you have received this communication in error, please return it to the sender indicating that you received it by mistake and delete the email. From: S-SARA On Behalf Of Foster, Kyle Sent: Friday, November 1, 2019 3:58 PM To: 's-sara at lists.onenet.net' Subject: Re: [S-SARA] SARA and HCM2 Hi, everyone. Just in case anyone was wondering, here is the letter we sent to the institution with approval from our legal counsel. We are working on getting signatures for the paperwork for NC-SARA. Have a great weekend! Kyle Dear Dr. [NAME]: Re: [INSTITUTION] SARA Participation At their [DATE] meeting, the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education approved [INSTITUTION]'s request to renew participation in the State Authorization Reciprocity Agreement (SARA) for another year. As you are aware, the National Council for State Authorization Reciprocity Agreements (NC-SARA) has established guidelines for institutions to be eligible for participation in SARA. When applying for initial approval or renewal in SARA, institutions affirm their commitment to abide by these guidelines. For non-public institutions, this includes maintaining a financial responsibility index score from the U.S. Department of Education (USDE) of 1.0-1.49 for provisional approval or at least 1.5 for full approval. On August 14, 2019, USDE published updated financial responsibility index scores for non-public institutions. [INSTITUTION]'s published score was 0.2, placing the institution below the range of eligibility to participate in SARA. Therefore, [INSTITUTION]'s approval to participate in SARA is withdrawn effective immediately. [INSTITUTION] may reapply for participation in SARA once it meets all requirements for participation. If you have any questions, please contact me by email at kfoster at osrhe.edu or by telephone at (405) 225-9163. Sincerely, Kyle Foster Assistant Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Kyle Foster Assistant Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education 655 Research Parkway, Suite 200 | Oklahoma City, OK 73104 P: +1 405 225 9163 | F: +1 405 225 9300 | E: kfoster at osrhe.edu [OK_RegentHighEdu_4c_horz] From: S-SARA [mailto:s-sara-bounces at lists.onenet.net] On Behalf Of Levy, Sarah (CPE) Sent: Tuesday, October 29, 2019 10:51 AM To: s-sara at lists.onenet.net Subject: Re: [S-SARA] SARA and HCM2 Kyle, Sharing with the group: We have proposed amendment to our licensing regulation re: HCM to require institutions to notify us within 10 days of HCM placement and re: coverage for unearned tuition - you can see the full agenda item starts at page 41, and specifically the proposed language re: HCM is on page 58: http://cpe.ky.gov/aboutus/agendas/cpe_meetings/agenda-103119.pdf . * To clarify, this proposed amended licensing regulation 13 KAR 1:020 is a different regulation from our SARA regulation 13 KAR 4:010. * The next step in the process regarding this proposed amended licensing regulation is that it is on the agenda for the LRC's Administrative Regulation Review Subcommittee meeting on November 12 https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/CommitteeDocuments/3/12152/Tentative%20ARRS%20November%20Agenda.pdf . In addition, I have scheduled on my calendar to check the USDoE webpage re: HCM status as USDoE updates it quarterly, and that is also part my financial review that I do as part of our annual licensure renewal process. https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/about/data-center/school/hcm * FYI - Here are two articles that provide a bit of history regarding two KY institutions that were on HCM2 and closed, and the USDoE's decision to start posting HCM status on its webpage beginning in 2015: o https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/03/26/education-dept-keeps-secret-names-colleges-found-be-risky-students-taxpayers o https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/03/30/education-department-will-release-list-colleges-found-be-risky-students-taxpayers o As note, one of the KY institutions, Mid-Continent University, had a federal financial responsibility score of 3.0 at the time it was placed on HCM2. Another thought: Is the institution you reference also on probation with its accreditor, or about to be? When an institution that we license is on probation with its accreditor, the institution must notify us and submit an application to us re: change in accreditation status, and we have option to issue a conditional license. With respect to SARA, we have not yet had an instance where we had a SARA institution placed on HCM2 (we didn't join SARA until 2016, after our two HCM2 institutions closed). But if we ever do, we would contact NC-SARA and SREB to make sure we were doing what needed to be done. Hope this helps! Best, Sarah Levy, J.D. Executive Director, Postsecondary Licensing Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education 1024 Capital Center Drive, Suite 320 Frankfort, KY 40601 Phone: (502) 892-3034 Fax: (502) 573-1535 Email: sarah.levy at ky.gov This message may contain sensitive or confidential student and/or academic information and is for the exclusive use of the intended recipient(s). If you have received this communication in error, please return it to the sender indicating that you received it by mistake and delete the email. From: S-SARA > On Behalf Of Foster, Kyle Sent: Monday, October 28, 2019 1:36 PM To: 's-sara at lists.onenet.net' > Subject: [S-SARA] SARA and HCM2 Good afternoon, S-SARA colleagues. I hope this Monday is treating everyone well! I wanted to toss out a question to get everyone's perspectives and hopefully learning something new. Our office was cc'd on a letter today informing a SARA-participating institution that they have been placed on Heightened Cash Monitoring 2 (HCM2). The institution is set to renew in January 2020. Do your states have a procedure when you are notified that a school has been placed on HCM? If so, do you act immediately or wait for the renewal? Thanks! Kyle Kyle Foster Assistant Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education 655 Research Parkway, Suite 200 | Oklahoma City, OK 73104 P: +1 405 225 9163 | F: +1 405 225 9300 | E: kfoster at osrhe.edu [OK_RegentHighEdu_4c_horz] -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: image001.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 9594 bytes Desc: image001.jpg URL: From Wanda.Barker at sreb.org Tue Nov 12 07:04:00 2019 From: Wanda.Barker at sreb.org (Wanda Barker) Date: Tue, 12 Nov 2019 13:04:00 +0000 Subject: [S-SARA] Call for Proposals and conference information Message-ID: Good morning, Please take note of the attached call for proposals from my friend, David McCurry, at USC Upstate. The first event mentioned is a regional conference, the second is a statewide conference. Feel free to share the invitation with others in your organization. I hope that some of you will submit proposals! Thanks, Wanda From: MCCURRY, DAVID > Sent: Thursday, November 7, 2019 10:38 AM To: Wanda Barker > Subject: SRFIDC Wanda, The attached Call for Proposals is for the Southern Regional Faculty and Instructional Development Consortium's (SRFIDC) annual meeting, hosted at USC Upstate in Spartanburg March 11-13, 2020. Please send this along, far and wide, to anyone in the region with interest in faculty and professional development. SRFIDC, a 40 year old organization, is comprised of membership from the same SREB state composition. On a somewhat related note, the distance learning organization initiative started at the SC ReCharge conference in Columbia, which you graciously provided keynote comments and presentation for in 2017, has morphed into the South Carolina Consortium for Educational and Professional Development, a statewide organization to support higher education faculty and educational development. The new website can be found at http://SCCEPD.ORG I appreciate you support and interest. Happy to talk or provide any additional details. David David S. McCurry, EdD, MFA Director, Office of Distance Education Center for Academic Innovation & Faculty Support [UpstateNewMark300x184] 800 University Way | Spartanburg, SC 29303 W: 864.503.5509 dmccurry at uscupstate.edu Up is where we live. Distance Learning at USC Upstate Faculty Online Course Development and Training -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: image001.gif Type: image/gif Size: 70 bytes Desc: image001.gif URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: image003.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 3052 bytes Desc: image003.jpg URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: SRFIDC STD_CallForProposals.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 1141930 bytes Desc: SRFIDC STD_CallForProposals.pdf URL: From Wanda.Barker at sreb.org Mon Nov 18 11:01:59 2019 From: Wanda.Barker at sreb.org (Wanda Barker) Date: Mon, 18 Nov 2019 17:01:59 +0000 Subject: [S-SARA] NC-SARA Update Message-ID: Good morning, Please see the note from NC-SARA to forward the update to your institutions. By the way, they are having website issues this morning, but are working with the provider to get it resolved quickly. If you can't get to the website, check back a little later. Best wishes, Wanda From: Mary Larson > Sent: Thursday, November 14, 2019 3:05 PM Subject: NC-SARA Updates for November 14, 2019 - NC-SARA Website Survey Good afternoon, Please forward the information below to your State Portal Entity Staff and ask them to forward to their institutions. Thanks. NC-SARA Updates for November 14, 2019 NC-SARA Website Survey The new NC-SARA website launched August 2019. The website was designed to be intuitive while having a consistent site-wide navigation system with improved menu functionality. Please let us know about your most recent visit to the NC-SARA website by taking this brief survey. The survey closes November 27, 2019. Thank you for providing valuable feedback! For the website survey, click here NC-SARA website survey link This email is being distributed to SARA State Portal Contacts and others who have requested to be on the distribution list. To be removed, just send Nick Ortiz a note with "unsubscribe" in the subject area. If there are others who may be interested in receiving periodic emails about SARA, please ask them to send Nick an email with the subject "NC-SARA Updates Please Include" and we'll be happy to add them to the distribution list. Information will be forwarded only when there are updates. Please add Nick's email (nortiz at nc-sara.org) to your safe list. Mary Agnes Larson Associate Director for Student and Institution Support NC-SARA 3005 Center Green Drive, Suite 130 Boulder, Colorado 80301 mlarson at nc-sara.org 303-848-3288 Wanda Barker Director, Education Technology and Multistate Cooperative Programs Southern Regional Education Board 592 10th Street NW Atlanta, GA 30318 Phone: 404-879-5558 @SREB_EdTech @wanda_barker https://www.sreb.org/educational-technology-cooperative -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: image001.gif Type: image/gif Size: 92 bytes Desc: image001.gif URL: From Wanda.Barker at sreb.org Tue Nov 19 15:28:41 2019 From: Wanda.Barker at sreb.org (Wanda Barker) Date: Tue, 19 Nov 2019 21:28:41 +0000 Subject: [S-SARA] Request from SPE Message-ID: Good afternoon, SARA team. One of our SPEs would like an example of how a CPA calculates and certifies a financial composite score for a non-Title IV institution. Their independent CPA has never done this type of calculation and would like an example to review. Please reply to the list if you have a suggestion. If you have an attachment, please save it as a PDF file for easy transmission. Feel free to mark through any institution names on the document if you want to keep the details anonymous. Thanks! Wanda Wanda Barker Director, Education Technology and Multistate Cooperative Programs Southern Regional Education Board 592 10th Street NW Atlanta, GA 30318 Phone: 404-879-5558 @SREB_EdTech @wanda_barker https://www.sreb.org/educational-technology-cooperative -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: image001.gif Type: image/gif Size: 92 bytes Desc: image001.gif URL: From Elisa.Jaden at SREB.org Thu Nov 21 11:27:57 2019 From: Elisa.Jaden at SREB.org (Elisa Jaden) Date: Thu, 21 Nov 2019 17:27:57 +0000 Subject: [S-SARA] November 21, 2019: Two Perspectives on Higher Education Closures and Mergers Message-ID: Student Protection Against Sudden College Closures Last month, Florida, New York and Illinois Representatives introduced a bill aimed at protecting students from sudden closures of higher education institutions. The Stop College Closures Act of 2019 (H.R. 4615) requires that accrediting agencies work proactively to review an institution's teach-out plan when the agency is triggered by potential college closure practices or behaviors, instead of reacting to colleges that close suddenly. Tracking and immediately responding to triggers such as accreditation and licensing problems, the decline of accreditation standards and financial responsibility scores, and closely monitoring and assessing an institution's record of complaints in a timely manner are at the core of the Stop College Closures Act of 2019. H.R. 4615 is intended to be part of the bill to reauthorize the Higher Education Act as it not only reinforces, but it also makes more explicit how accreditors carry out current practices. The bill has been referred to the House Committee on Education and Labor. For more information visit New Bill on College Closure Protection. Higher Education Mergers: A New Perspective for a New Direction In higher education, there is an understandable stigma of mergers and acquisitions. However, the emerging higher education climate suggests that a well-thought-out merger process can help institutional and higher education administrators understand where a college stands and where it must go in order to preserve its new, combined mission and the value it provides to the local community. The strategic study of institutional mergers and consolidations can be the platform for informed decisions on the future and well-being of an institution. Further, institutions can benefit greatly from considering the strengths and weaknesses of each institution on its own and the synergy that could be created through merging. There are so many aspects to consider: financial standing, staffing, data, technology systems, accreditation, programmatic offerings and more. If strategically assessing the options for mergers becomes practice before circumstances become dire, more institutions of all types and sizes could benefit from considering whether merging or consolidating offers the new direction that institutions desire. For more information visit The Growing Role of Mergers in Higher Ed. SARA Southern Regional Education Board 592-10th Street NW Atlanta, Georgia 30318-5776 E-mail: SARA at sreb.org [SREB_ver] -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: image001.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 7978 bytes Desc: image001.jpg URL: