As part of its regulatory oversight of higher education institutions, state governments require colleges and universities to obtain legal authorization to operate within their jurisdiction. For traditional brick-and-mortar institutions, this typically means seeking authorization from a single state. But for institutions seeking to offer online postsecondary programs accessible to students regardless of their physical location, the process is more complicated because it requires institutions to seek authorization from every state in which their out-of-state students reside. The National Council for State Authorization Reciprocity Agreements (NC-SARA) was created in 2013 to lower the administrative and financial burdens imposed on institutions seeking authorization in multiple states in order to expand access to online learning opportunities. Under these agreements, institutions that are authorized in one participating state can apply for approval with NC-SARA, rather than with each additional state, to enroll online students from all participating states. As of the publication of this blog, 49 states (California is the lone holdout) and the District of Columbia have signed on to SARA.

With support from the Joyce Foundation and Strada Education Foundation, Ithaka S+R is launching a new research project to understand how the creation of NC-SARA has affected student enrollment in online programs and the extent to which credentials for online learners are valued in the labor market. This project builds on prior Ithaka S+R research that used institution-level data to explore the relationship between NC-SARA and online enrollments.

What are the details of this new research project?

This project will consist of two phases. In the first phase, the Ithaka S+R team will answer the question of whether and how the creation of NC-SARA increased students’ access to educational opportunities. We’ll do this by comparing in- and out-of-state online enrollments before and after states joined SARA using student survey responses from the 2012, 2016, and 2020 National Postsecondary Student Aid Survey (NPSAS). In addition, we will disaggregate the data by key student demographics, including gender and race/ethnicity, to identify the types of students who are most likely to enroll in out-of-state online programs and the types of institutions and degree programs they typically enroll in.

In the second phase, we will answer the question of whether online learners are earning credentials that are valued by the labor market. To do so, we will use a resume audit study–a field experiment where we submit fictitious resumes to real job postings and measure call-back rates to identify how employers respond to online credentials obtained from out-of-state institutions. We will create and submit five types of resumes for each job. These will vary only by the type of institution that awarded the applicant’s credential: in-state institution; in-state institution with online program explicitly noted; out-of-state institution; out-of-state institution with online program explicitly noted; and to serve as a baseline, one with a high school diploma only. By making these changes to the resume, we will be able to assess the likelihood of an individual receiving a callback from a recruiter based on factors related to in- or out-of-state attendance and in-person or online studies.

The role that states play in ensuring students receive a high-quality, high-value postsecondary education is increasingly scrutinized with the proliferation of institutional closures, questions about the economic value of a postsecondary education, and predatory practices of some for-profit institutions. Opponents of NC-SARA have argued that its creation has made it harder for states to fulfill their consumer protection role. The findings from this research study will provide new evidence on the potential benefits and harms of lowering authorization barriers and expanding the online market, thereby helping to identify practices and policies that protect students from exploitative behaviors and support their postsecondary success.

If you’re interested in learning more, please reach out to Daniel Rossman (Daniel.Rossman@ithaka.org).

Ithaka S+R is grateful to James Dean Ward, former Ithaka S+R principal, for his contributions to the development of this project.