DISTANCE EDUCATION REGULATORY CHANGES
For the purpose of describing the USDE waivers resulting from COVID-19, the information below replaces the FAQs that were previously available.
Institutions that are offering or intend to offer courses or any portion of a program through distance education but do not already have Distance Education Alternative Delivery Method included within the scope of accreditation must submit a substantive change request by the January 2022 submission deadline.
On May 19, 2020, the Department published a notice of the United States Department of Education Extension of Distance Education, stating that institutions wishing to use distance education programs as an additional method of delivery outside of the United States Department of Education (USDE or the Department) extension must obtain approval through the substantive change process. The Department did not mandate accreditor approval at that time for institutions offering distance education courses. However, starting January 1, 2022, institutions that are currently not including distance education within their scope of accreditation but are offering courses or any portion of a program through distance education must submit a substantive change request for the reasons that are detailed in more detail below.
After being renegotiated, the federal Distance Education and Innovation Regulations will take effect on July 1, 2021. In an electronic notice titled Guidance on Accreditation and Eligibility Requirements for Distance Education (EA ID: OPE-21-06) dated January 19, 2021, the Department published information on these requirements. The Department claimed in that recommendation that Dear Colleague Letter GEN-06-17 had been revoked in August 2020. The regulatory requirements were previously construed in Dear Colleague Letter GEN-06-17 to set a 50% bar for accreditor approval of distance education. According to that understanding, a distance education program did not need to be examined or authorized by an accrediting agency if an institution did not offer more than 50% of it online. According to the new guidance, a facility must be evaluated and accredited for its successful delivery of distance education by a recognized organization that includes distance education within its scope of recognition before it can offer courses or any other parts of a program that can be eligible for Title IV funding.
Technical adjustments made by the Department to the Substantive Change Guidelines as a result of the regulatory amendments are set to take effect on November 1, 2021, and they do away with the 50 percent threshold that was previously utilized to assess whether accreditor permission was required.
The institution's capability to successfully conduct distance education courses or programs has been assessed, and the corrected substantive change request form for #4 Alternative Delivery Method will be placed on the Commission's webpage for substantive change. Institutions impacted by this change are advised to submit materials using the amended request form by the January 2022 deadline.
All future accreditation activities will take distant education into account as one of the institution's offerings once it is incorporated as an alternative delivery method within the institution's scope of accreditation, and teams and peer evaluators will examine them.
Additionally, in accordance with the Substantive Change Policy and Procedures, the institution will have to file the necessary notices or request advance approval from the Department for any future modifications to an existing program's delivery mechanism.
If you have any queries about what would be needed and your school does not presently offer distance learning within the parameters of its accreditation, please email info@ushed-gov.org.