This bill repeals certain statutes related to correspondence schools and updates application requirements for degree-granting educational institutions. The bill requires a degree-granting educational institution to pay an application fee for the initial application that reflects the costs to the Department of Education for processing the application, as determined by the Commissioner of Education, and clarifies that temporary approval to use the name "community college," "college" or "university" may not be used as a basis for a recommendation by the State Board of Education for permanent degree-granting authority. The bill also allows the state board to recommend an educational institution to the Legislature for degree-granting authority without additional review if the state board has approved or renewed approval for the institution to offer academic programs in the State within 5 years of the institution’s application for degree-granting authority and the institution has applied for degree-granting authority only for degrees for which the institution offers academic programs approved by the state board. The bill requires the state board to provide any reports resulting from completed state board reviews of the applicant educational institution to the joint standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over education matters upon recommending the institution for degree-granting authority.

Statutes affected:
Bill Text LD 2098, HP 1413: 20-A.10017, 20-A.10707