On Monday July 22, the Department of Education announced that the 2016 Distance Education Regulations, previously delayed by the Department until July 1, 2020, were effective as of May 26, 2019. This was due to a decision by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in the case NEA v. DeVos.
These regulations mandate that institutions which provide distance education to out-of-state students must document that the student’s state has a student complaint process or that the student’s state participates in an appropriate state authorization reciprocity agreement.
This represents a major compliance concern as students from states which fail to meet the requirement are unable to receive Title IV program funding. The state of California does not meet these requirements. Therefore this ruling has created a major compliance issue for institutions outside the state of California that are providing Title IV aid to California residents enrolled in their distance education programs.
A Q&A document regarding the impact of these regulations has been published by the Department of Education and is below for easy reference.
Source: Compliance with the 2016 State Authorization Regulations Questions and Answers