SARA Policy
State Authorization Reciprocity Agreement (SARA)
The U.S. Department of Education requires higher education institutions to be authorized to provide post-secondary instruction in accordance with their respective state laws and regulations. These regulations also apply to online, distance, and correspondence education offered within that state.
North Shore Community College is an active member of the State Authorization Reciprocity Agreement. SARA is an agreement among 49 member states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands, encompassing 1,993 colleges and universities. Membership in SARA simplifies the process of taking online classes at institutions of higher education based in other states by establishing comparable national standards that provide high-quality postsecondary distance education opportunities to students around the country. SARA is overseen by a national council and is regionally administered by the New England Board of Higher Education (NEBHE), one of four regional education compacts.
NSCC was approved by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to participate in SARA and became a member institution in April 2019. North Shore Community College is required to provide current and prospective online learning students with contact information and processes for filing complaints. Students who desire to resolve a grievance or file a complaint should follow the College's Student Grievance Procedure as outlined in the NSCC Student Handbook, which can be found here:
Student Grievance Procedure. Further information on the Complaints Process can be found on the college's website at https://www.northshore.edu/online-learning/state-authorization.html.