State Authorization Reciprocity Agreement (SARA)
SARA is a voluntary, regional initiative that provides postsecondary institutions a streamlined approach for offering distance education to students outside the institution’s home state. Our participation in SARA allows us to offer distance education to students in all SARA member states without obtaining individual approval from each state.
Based on our participation in SARA and the status of current state and federal regulations, the University of Northern Colorado can provide postsecondary distance education in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. We are not currently authorized to offer distance education in American Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, and the Republic of Palau. We are continuing to monitor requirements in these territories and freely associated states and are attempting to seek clarifications from government agencies where possible.
Please note that some distance education activities may have additional state requirements that fall outside of SARA participation. This most commonly occurs for learning placement activities in licensed professions, such as internships, healthcare clinicals, and student teaching experiences. We are continuously investigating these requirements and are listing activities that may have additional state requirements below.
University of Northern Colorado participates in the State Authorization Reciprocity Agreements.
For information on professional licensure, visit our licensure website.
For any questions related to information on these pages or UNC’s participation in SARA, please contact Jake Henderson, State Authorization and Accreditation Compliance Specialist, at jake.henderson@unco.edu or 970-351-4678.