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State Authorization Reciprocity Agreement, SARA, is an agreement between institutions, states and higher education regional compacts for the delivery of distance education across state borders.

Institutions are reviewed and approved to participate by each state's SARA Portal Agency. The Arizona SARA Council is the SARA Portal Agency for Arizona. Arizona SARA Institutions

States participate in this reciprocity agreement via voluntary state membership in NC-SARA, the National Council for state authorization reciprocity. They have loads of helpful information on their website, like the state-by-state list of participating institutions across the nation.

Regional compacts provide structural oversight for member states in their region. Arizona's regional compact is Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education, or WICHE.

The purpose of SARA is to enable institutions to provide distance education across state borders using a streamlined oversight structure and a standardized approval process and criteria.

Additionally, SARA provides consumer protection for distance education students. 

In short, institutions meet state authorization regulatory requirements in an efficient manner and students gain access to distance education by approved SARA institutions.

Arizona Based Institutions of Higher Education:

The Arizona SARA Council provides SARA oversight to post-secondary Arizona institutions that elect to offer Distance Education across state borders through SARA reciprocity.

Distance Education Students Outside of Arizona:

The Arizona SARA Council also serves as a complaint resolution body for students who are provided out-of-state Distance Education by an Arizona SARA institution. 

If you need any information about non-SARA state post-secondary regulatory oversight, please contact the Arizona State Board for Private Postsecondary Education. 

The Arizona SARA Council only provides oversight for SARA related issues.