New Washington State Law Extends Protections to Students Enrolled in Online, Out-of-State Colleges
Credit: Joe Sohm / Visions of America / Universal Images Group / Getty Images- Washington state’s governor signed a bill extending state student consumer protection laws to residents studying at an online, out-of-state college.
- The legislation will require online, out-of-state colleges to comply with the same laws that institutions based in the state must follow.
- The law challenges the State Authorization Reciprocity Agreement (SARA) — an interstate agreement regulating state supervision of online colleges.
Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson signed legislation April 21 extending the state’s student consumer protection laws to Washington residents enrolled in online, out-of-state colleges and universities.
Now law, House Bill 1279, introduced by state Rep. Gerry Pollet, D-Seattle, will require out-of-state online institutions to abide by the same student consumer protections that institutions physically located in Washington state must follow.
“Online universities, including many for-profits, who advertise and recruit heavily to entice Washington residents to enroll, have sought to avoid any accountability to comply with Washington state’s strong student consumer protections,” he said in a statement.
“Working students using online programs deserve the same protection and transparency that other Washington students enjoy, regardless of where the college is based.”
According to the Washington State House Democrats, state law previously allowed students to file complaints with the Washington Student Achievement Council if an online institution misrepresented academic programs, accreditation, job placement statistics, or student debt and earnings measurements.
However, out-of-state online schools claimed that the law did not apply to them under the State Authorization Reciprocity Agreement (SARA), an interstate agreement of 49 states — all but California — that regulates how states can oversee online higher education programs.
SARA, administered by the National Council for State Authorization Reciprocity Agreements (NC-SARA), allows institutions that meet its requirements and are approved by NC-SARA member states to offer online education programs to students in other states without the usual cumbersome and often expensive state authorization process.
What to attend an online college? Read more:
While SARA allows institutions to offer their programs more easily in other states, its policies restrict member states from enforcing education-specific consumer protection laws against out-of-state NC-SARA participating schools.
The Washington state bill claimed that the policy incentivizes schools to choose a location in a state with weaker student consumer protection laws to avoid complying with the statutes in other states.
Pollet said the new law “sends a strong message” to the board that oversees SARA that it “needs to be reformed to protect the students rather than shielding the for-profit and aggressive online education industry.”
The bill also said the state will review its “continuing participation” in NC-SARA if the group has not amended its policies to provide “equivalent student consumer protection” by July 1, 2028. If NC-SARA doesn’t make changes, the council “may initiate alternative arrangements with individual states or groups of states.”
One state Washington could make a deal with is California. The Golden State has strong consumer protection laws and has opted out of joining NC-SARA since the group was established in 2013.