Arkansas State - Certain state residents can't apply?

The Arkansas State online MPA program interested me, so I filled out an info request and was told this: PA doesn't recognize Arkansas' online program and that since I'm a Pennsylvania resident, I can't even apply to the online MPA program. Anyone ever hear of online schools not being allowed to serve certain states? I can't find anything online about any issues between Arkansas State and Pennsylvania... I even called the PA Dept of Education and the woman explained that PA requests schools providing online programs to PA residents to somewhat register (free) and just provide a basic program outline. But either way she said it in no way affects being enrolled in any school's program so it's all on Arkansas State's end .... A shame because the program looks good and is darn reasonable.

 

Even though the Arkansas State MPA is NASPAA accredited; in addition to Pennsylvania, ASU does not have approval from a few additional states to admit out-of-state residents to its online MPA (as well as some other online academic programs). The few additional states as regards the MPA toward their residents are:

Connecticut
District of Columbia
Kentucky
Massachusetts
Minnesota
Missouri
West Virginia

I can understand such as regards non-reciprocity among certain states, e.g., degrees required toward state licensure/s; however, in that the generalist MPA degree would not be considered as such toward any particular licensure … seems to be a rather strange restriction (?).

Re State Program Approvals:
http://degree.astate.edu/documents/State_Program_Approvals.pdf

 

Yep, especially after contacting PA's DoE and having the woman sound almost as confused as I was... She was the woman with the list of schools that have even contacted PA about authorization, and she said it was less than 1,000....

 

The PA governmental (DoE) restriction might seem more intrastate policy /politics vs. merely reciprocal agreement/s with say an online MPA degree offering for PA residents through Arkansas State University… Nevertheless, there are plenty of accredited online MPA degree programs available of which should be acceptable for enrollment of Pennsylvania residents.

 

Arkansas State is most certainly NOT an "online school." It is a residential university that offers some programs online. Big difference.

Sounds like you're being excluded from a state (and state's) university because you are not a resident of that state. This may be due to the limited availability of the degree--there might not be enough spots for state residents, so they feel compelled to exclude non-residents like you. (If they had room, they'd let you in and charge you the much higher non-resident tuition rate, if they have one.)

But I don't understand this statement of yours: "PA doesn't recognize Arkansas' online program...." Since "recognition" is such a varied concept, it's not clear what you mean. Recognized for what? Certainly not licensure. Employment, perhaps? What? Certainly an MPA earned at Arkansas State would be acceptable for employment anywhere. So what are you saying?

 

It's a matter of state approval. Recent regulatory changes now require schools to have approval from each state within which they operate, and in many cases, states consider enrolling an online student to count for this.

It can be an extensive and expensive process---up into the thousands for each state, just to have approval.

ASU apparently hasn't received approval from PA yet, but that could be for a variety of reasons.

 

I believe, as stefan mentioned, that it relates to evolving federal law. http://www.acenet.edu/AM/Template.cfm?Section=LettersGovt&TEMPLATE=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm&CONTENTID=40109 It appears that the regulation is being successfully challenged though. State Authorization for Institutions that Offer Distance Education to Out-of-State Students

 

I hope it dies. I think the whole state approval process is bogus anyway. IMO, a regionally-accredited or nationally-accredited school should have an automatic exemption.

State approval should only affect unaccredited institutions.

 

Thanks for the info. That's why I specifically called and when she said less than 1,000 schools contacted PA, I asked if it was because there's a high fee or some extraordinary reason why schools aren't getting registered.... she said there's no fee and it's a few pages of information on the school and programs they offer and that's it... so there's a miscommunication somewhere along the lines in government, not surprising. But like I said, she said it has absolutely no bearing on whether or not a school can enroll you or not. Oh well.

 

The program your talking about does look awesome. I wonder if a PO box in the next state over would work. Valid act of disobedience if nothing else.

 

This is in the other similar thread on the front page:

"WASHINGTON -- In a reversal of one of the most sweeping and controversial portions of its program integrity rules, the Education Department said Friday that it will no longer enforce a requirement that distance education programs obtain permission to operate in every state in which they enroll at least one student.
The change was announced quietly — on the third page of a five-page attachment to a "Dear Colleague" letter that the Education Department sent to institutions Friday — but will likely be cheered by many in higher education . Colleges have fought the state authorization rule both in Congress and in the courts since it was first put forward in October 2010, arguing that archaic authorization rules create too much red tape and financial burden for online programs.
The decision not to enforce the policy comes in the wake of a court setback in June, when an appeals court upheld a lower court's decision to overturn the rule.
The court threw out the rule on procedural grounds, saying the department had the authority to create such a rule but overstepped the bounds of the negotiated rule-making process. It was considered a minor victory for the for-profit colleges that brought the lawsuit — with effects for nonprofit and public institutions with an online presence.
In the letter, the Education Department said colleges still will need permission to operate in their home states. And, it noted, colleges still have to comply with state laws on authorization. In the wake of the program integrity rules, some states have changed their authorization requirements, in some cases making it more difficult or expensive for colleges to get permission to operate, said Russell Poulin, deputy director of research and analysis with the WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies."