Now is Not the Time to Relax (or Even to Panic)

May 25, 2011

Michael Goldstein and Greg Ferenbach represent Dow Lohnes, a Washington, DC firm with one of its specializations in higher education law.  They have been very helpful in interpreting the federal versions of the state authorization regulation.  After our post yesterday on the timeline, they thought it would be helpful to provide their reading on the timeline.

As evidenced from a number of posts, the issuance the Department of Education’s Second Dear Colleague Letter, dated April 20, 2011 (“DCL-2”) has resulted in a collective sigh of relief.  The Sword of Damocles, aka Federal enforcement of state requirements for the authorization of cross border e-learning, has been removed, at least for a few years.  The enforcement clock has been pushed back to July 1, 2014.  Have a nice summer.

But has it?  It is not correct to assume that the Department has agreed to a moratorium until July 1, 2014 on Federal enforcement of the requirement that institutions secure necessary state authorization for cross-border online enrollments.  (As an aside, no one talks much about this, but regardless of the Department of Education’s enforcement efforts, compliance with state law cannot be ignored, particularly as states become more sensitive to the issues.) […]