MELA Meeting Minutes 2003 - 2017

ii. 28 states have been completed, we are exempt in 9 states, and there is more paperwork to do. There are 7 states who they are trying to determine if instructors live in those states: Georgia, Iowa, New Hampshire, Oregon, Rhode Island, Texas, and West Virginia. Akiah sent out a survey a few months ago asking for this information from each college. This will need to be monitored on a yearly basis, as new instructors are hired. Audra is waiting on Indiana, Alabama, Arkansas, Maine, and Wyoming – for these states, the paperwork is a big process. iii. For other states to get Mississippi approved through State Authorization, academic courses must go through – IHL. Career/Technical must go through Commission for Proprietary Schools. It is not an easy process for other states to go through Mississippi state authorization.

j. Calendar: Audra will be working on the MSVCC Calendar from now on.

VI.

New Business

a. Technology Committee –

i. Request 1: E-mail Notifications for Status Change to include the term date. 1. Tabled for next meeting. ii. Request 2: Add/Drop/Reinstate window for Term II window only to be opened in the ET. 1. Tabled for next meeting. b. Flex Terms: i. Jennifer Leimer questioned about the new ET being able to handle Flex Terms. Audra Kimble stated that there is still much conversation that has to take place with Financial Aid, IT, etc., and flex terms will not be able to take place within the year. The new ET should be able to accommodate flex terms; however, Audra will have to verify this with Ive. If Flex Terms are instituted in the MSVCC we would have to come up with a calendar for these dates. ii. Jones has been doing Flex Terms already – outside of the MSVCC, on a cash-only basis, because it is not available for state funding. State funding is the holdup for many colleges. c. SARA (State Authorization Reciprocity Agreement) State Authorization Update i. SARA is in the works and not finalized. SARA is where a representative from each state came together and decided that if you are approved for State Authorization in one state, you can be approved in all (if each state recognizes the agreement). Each state will determine if they want to be part of SARA, and it will take legislative action for this to happen. A state can opt out of SARA, and the MSVCC would have to go through that process. SARA says to continue doing what you are doing until it is ‘finalized’. It will be to our benefit if SARA is adopted, because it will be incredibly cheaper. SARA would cost $6K-10K a year, and states would need to go through the process each year. SACS accreditation helps with hurdles. ii. Keri Cole asked if this was similar to Substantive Change, and asked about advertising outside of state.

1. Audra stated that SARA is similar, and is tied to advertising. Audra also mentioned that colleges sitting on border where the TV market reaches into other states need to be aware of State Authorization. For example, Louisana

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