UIU agreement to benefit online students

Upper Iowa University was recently accepted as an institutional participant in the State Authorization Reciprocity Agreement (SARA) initiative. SARA is a voluntary agreement among member states and U.S. territories that establishes comparable national standards for interstate offering of postsecondary distance-education courses and programs. It is intended to make it easier for students to take online courses offered by postsecondary institutions based in another state.

“The SARA agreement will not only expand student access to our educational offerings, but should further enhance the overall quality of UIU’s distance education programming,” said Dr. Kurt Wood, UIU provost and executive vice president. “SARA reduces the substantial institutional costs that Upper Iowa has incurred to maintain individual state authorization, which in turn, will have a positive impact on the cost of tuition for UIU students.”

SARA is overseen by a National Council and administered by four regional education compacts. UIU is a member of the Midwestern Higher Education Compact (MHEC). Founded in 1991, MHEC is a nonprofit organization serving Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin.