Make your voice known on what you support and what you do not support.
The Background
On March 20th, we published a blog update on the final week of negotiated rulemaking. Despite tons of suggestions and hours of discussion, none of the distance and digital education issues reached “consensus” among the negotiators. That leaves the Department responsible for writing proposed rules and there is no obligation for the Department to use the language discussed or negotiated by the committee.
As a quick reminder, the Department put forward proposed language on a number of issues including:
state authorization for in-state institutions,
state reciprocity for distance education,
attendance taking in all distance education courses,
disallowing aid for asynchronous clock hour courses,
changing the accreditation review thresholds for distance education,
creating a “virtual location” for all distance education programs, and,
restricting when books and resources can be included in tuition and fees.
These proposals will change which students enroll in distance education and how institutions offer distance education.
Institutions should carefully consider the possible positive and negative impacts on students.
Because the impact of proposed regulations on distance education will be significant, we urge you to begin working with your government relations department and contact your elected representatives.
What’s Next from the Department
So, what’s next?
Because there was no consensus on the distance education issues, the Department is now working on the final proposed language. That language may very well differ from what the Department put forward during negotiated rulemaking. In fact, during the last week of negotiated rulemaking, the Department’s representative stated quite bluntly that there was no guarantee that any Department concessions would find their way into the proposed regulations.
Once the Department releases the proposed regulations, they will be posted for public comment for at least thirty days. After the public comment period, the Department will work on responses to the comments received and craft the final regulatory language. If that language is released by November 1, 2024, it will go into effect on July 1, 2025, although the Department does have the latitude to delay the effective date if it believes that institutions will need more time to come into compliance with specific portions of the new regulations. It’s also possible that the Department might decide to release a portion of the proposed regulations and wait on others.
What You Can Do
Although we don’t exactly know what to expect from the Department, we have heard a credible rumor that the Department might release the proposed regulations for public comment as early as May or June. During negotiations, the Department verbally shared the expectation of releasing proposed regulations in the spring although the Current Unified Agenda and Regulatory Plan indicates that the proposed rules are to be released in October.
Regardless of when the proposed regulations are released, we believe that the time for action is now.
Because the impact of proposed regulations on distance education will be significant, your institution may want to officially address your concerns with the Department even before the proposed regulations are released. We urge you to begin working with your government relations department and contact your elected representatives at the federal and state levels.
Your elected representatives may be able to pressure the Department into changing its position on distance education. Those in Congress could ask questions of the Department of Education. We certainly saw Congressional pressure last week to change the Department’s implementation of its gainful employment reporting regulations. Governors and legislators may be interested in Federal attempts to change laws that they passed.
To help you educate your institutional leadership, we have crafted several short policy briefs that outline the key issues and the likely impact on institutions. In communicating with your representatives or the Department itself, we urge you to focus your comments on how the discussed language would negatively impact students and your institution. Many times during the course of negotiations we heard the Department express concern that students were not being protected and sometimes harmed. We believe that the language discussed during negotiations would, in several cases, limit student opportunities and hurt students. Raising these stories will be crucial in helping persuade the Department to moderate its stance in several areas.
Once the proposed regulatory language is released by the Department, we will provide a more detailed analysis with recommendations for your public comments.
But don’t wait for the proposed language. Act now.
Russ Poulin retired as the executive director for WCET in December 2024. He led the team’s work in supporting the efforts of postsecondary institutions from all 50 states with a focus on the policy and practice of digital learning. Russ was and continues to be a highly sought-after expert and leader regarding policy issues for distance education and on-campus uses of educational technologies. As WICHE vice president for technology-enhanced education, he advised on policy and projects for the regional higher education compact. Russ’s commitment to the field is continually noted, and he was honored to have represented the distance education community on federal negotiated rulemaking committees and subcommittees. Russ has received recognition from the Online Learning Consortium (OLC), the Presidents’ Forum, Excelsior College, and the National University Technology Network (NUTN) for his contributions to postsecondary digital education and educational policy.
Russ received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Colorado Denver and holds a master’s degree from the University of Northern Colorado. For no discernible reason, Russ also writes movie reviews for WCET members. As a movie enthusiast, Russ is most fascinated with characters and plots that surprise him. In addition, Russ is a recovering trivia guy who is also partial to cats and his wife, Laurie.
Van Davis joined WCET in 2021 as chief strategy officer, and in 2025, he became WCET’s executive director and WICHE’s vice president for digital learning. Davis oversees all strategic and operational responsibilities of WCET’s membership, the State Authorization Network (SAN) that assists institutions with interstate compliance, and Every Learner Everywhere, focused on using digital learning for equitable outcomes.
Van has over 25 years of experience in higher education as a faculty member, academic administrator, state policy maker, and edtech leader. He holds a Master’s and PhD in 20th Century US history with an emphasis in civil rights from Vanderbilt University and a Bachelor’s in history from Southwestern University. Prior to joining WCET and WICHE, Davis served as principal at Foghlam Consulting, associate vice president at Blackboard Inc., director of innovation at the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, and a faculty member and academic administrator at several public and private universities with historically underrepresented student populations.
Van’s expertise includes artificial intelligence policy and practice, federal and state distance education policy, degree completion initiatives, competency-based education, the cost and price of distance education, and the future of higher education and digital learning.
Please reach out with media inquiries or if you are interested in speaking with Van.
Van lives outside of Austin, Texas, and will relocate to WICHE headquarters in Boulder, CO, later this summer with his beloved wife, Lisa, and two cats. When not working, Van collects Lego models and dreams of the day he can complete his western US camping trip.
Cheryl joined WCET in August of 2015 as the director of the State Authorization Network. She currently serves as the senior director, policy innovations. She directs the overall activities of WCET’s State Authorization Network (SAN), including coordination of staff addressing interstate policy and compliance, along with other ancillary compliance issues. As senior director, Cheryl also serves the overall WCET membership in addressing emerging and special regulatory issues related to digital learning in postsecondary education. She brings extensive experience in education and compliance to the WCET team and is a contributing author for State Authorization of Colleges and Universities, a guidebook for understanding the legal basis for State and Federal compliance for activities of postsecondary institutions.
Cheryl holds a Juris Doctorate from the University of Richmond, a master’s degree in criminal justice from Bowling Green State University, and a bachelor’s degree in political science from James Madison University. She is the mother of four kids, all of whom have been instrumental in helping her develop new interests in theatre, hockey, and figure skating. Outside of work, Cheryl enjoys spending time with her family and is an avid fan of movies and TV shows written by Aaron Sorkin.
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