Negotiators Fail to Bridge ‘Gulf’ on Reciprocity Changes

The Biden administration can now move forward with its plans to give states greater authority over online programs after an advisory rule-making committee rejected a compromise proposal Thursday. The Education Department said last week that it wants to change the terms of state authorization reciprocity agreements to give state regulators more authority to enforce their own laws on out-of-state institutions that enroll their residents. Currently, reciprocity agreements allow colleges to enroll out-of-state students online without getting direct approvals from the individual states—and they exempt institutions from some laws in the states where the students are located.