What SARA Does

The State Authorization Reciprocity Agreement (SARA) is an agreement among member states, districts and territories that establishes comparable national standards for interstate offering of postsecondary distance education courses and programs. The primary objectives of SARA are to make it easier for institutions in North Carolina to provide online and distance education options to students in other states and to provide basic protections for those students.

SARA is overseen by a national council and administered by four regional higher education compacts, MHEC, NEBHE, SREB and WICHE. The four SARA agreements of those compacts are collectively treated as a plural, the Agreements. North Carolina has been accepted as a member state of SARA, through the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB).

SREB Region

SECRRA ended June 30, 2017

SECRRA ended June 30, 2017.

Your institution will need to seek authorization from all states, including the SREB region if your institution is:
  • domiciled in a non-SARA state within the SREB region, OR
  • a non-SARA institution in a SARA participating state within the SREB region.