Twice in one month! I know, I’m excited too! 

While going through my saved emails and notes from the past few months, I was reminded of some excellent advice from Reni Powell, the Assistant Director of Program Management and Compliance at Oregon State University (OSU), about working toward compliance with professional licensure regulations. Reni developed a process that brings the university into compliance with licensure regulations quickly in terms of required notifications and disclosures, while also maintaining compliance with NC-SARA policies—without adding too much additional work for her and her team. Here’s the approach she shared: 

Reni’s Framework for Professional Licensure Disclosures: 
When developing institutional processes, policies, and protocols for providing licensure disclosures, the key is to keep things simple. We (the institution) don’t always know the specific state or territory where a prospective or enrolled student intends to obtain licensure. So, we provide licensure disclosures to any prospective or enrolled student of a program that "facilitates the educational requirements for professional licensure," regardless of their reported location. This allows students to review the details for the state(s) or territory(ies) where they plan to obtain licensure. 

Here’s the basic framework for handling public vs. individual notifications for both prospective and enrolled students: 

Public Notification (for prospective and enrolled students):

• A licensure disclosure website. 

Individual Notification (for prospective students): 
We consider a student to be a prospective student until they register for their first term of courses, after which they become an enrolled student. The touchpoints for prospective students include: 

• Direct contact (phone, email, in-person): It’s difficult to ensure notifications are provided through direct contact, but we do our best to share licensure disclosures here, knowing that we can’t obtain an acknowledgment of receipt. 
• Request for Information (RFI) pop-ups: Whenever a student inquires about an applicable program that leads to licensure (not just through Ecampus), we require acknowledgment of the licensure disclosure before accepting their RFI submission. This provides a date/time stamp confirming the student’s acknowledgment, should it be needed for legal purposes later. The notification also directs the student to the public licensure site. 
• Admission application (online portal): Similar to the RFI, we require acknowledgment of licensure disclosure when a prospective student selects an applicable program in their application. Again, the notification directs the student to the public licensure disclosure site. 

Here’s an example of how this works: 

A prospective student interested in the Master of Counseling - School Counselor program, which meets the educational requirements for a School Counselor license in Oregon, would see the following message when using the RFI form: 

"Learn more about how this program facilitates licensure with the U.S. state(s)/territory(ies) where licensure is intended." 

They would then need to check a box acknowledging, "Yes, I have read the requirements for licensure," before submitting the RFI or admission application. 

Individual Notification (for enrolled students):
If it's determined that our program no longer meets the educational requirements for licensure in a particular state or territory, we notify all enrolled students in that program via email (within the required 14-day period) with a recommendation to contact their advisor immediately. This allows students to determine whether this change affects them. Since the notification is sent using the students' institutional email addresses, we have a date/time stamp as proof of when and to whom the notification was sent. 

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While Reni admits that this process may need some tweaking in the future as more is learned about specific licensure programs and students’ movements, it’s an easy process for any of us to adopt. A framework like this allows us to focus more on communication—ensuring that both current and prospective students, as well as internal university departments, are informed and engaged in maintaining compliance. Additionally, as echoed by both the College of Engineering and the College of Law on the Boulder campus, a process like this supports our universities' missions and visions by fostering student success. By equipping students with the knowledge and tools to succeed beyond our campuses, we are contributing to their overall success in the wider world. 

Hope you’re all doing well!
Erika 

Erika G. Swain
Interim Assistant Director for State Authorization
Office of Academic Affairs
University of Colorado System
e: swaine@cu.edu
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Assistant Director for Compliance and Authorization
Office of Data Analytics | Office of Institutional Research
University of Colorado Boulder
e: Erika.Swain@colorado.edu
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o: (303) 735-8184
c: (518) 637-9785