By John Sandman, the Street
Distance learning, where students attend class while sitting in front of a computer, is higher ed’s fastest growing segment according to a 2014 Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pension committee report. Some observers also fear that they operate in uncharted—and unregulated—waters, where students are vulnerable to scams. That’s because distance learning or online schools are allowed to set up shop in states, where they have no physical presence. Through deals made with state legislators, they avoid regulations that must be observed by schools that do teaching in a classroom, according to a December 14 report last month from the National Consumer Law Center (NCLC). 34 states have used these agreements, called State Authorization Reciprocity Agreements, or SARAs, that exempt schools from complying with state consumer protections aimed at preventing for-profit college fraud.
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