Living Outside of Virginia
If you are living outside of Virginia while taking courses at JMU, you must be sure that JMU is authorized to offer educational services in your state or U.S. territory. Furthermore, if you are located outside Virginia and are enrolled in a program that leads to professional licensure, you should know whether JMU's program meets the professional licensing board requirements in the state or territory where you are located.
Under what is known as the State Authorization Reciprocity Agreements or SARA, JMU is authorized to offer online courses or online programs in 49 US states and most US territories without having to seek approval from those states and territories. This includes the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. JMU can also offer online courses and other limited educational activities in California wihtout seeking approval even though California is not a SARA member. JMU would have to seek approval to offer any educational activities in the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands (CMNI).
A map of authorized states and territories is available at http://nc-sara.org/sara-states-institutions.
Your Responsibilities
Depending on what kind of learning activity you are engaged in and where you are located at the time, you might or might not need to take any additional steps to enroll in a program at JMU and participate in certain types of out-of-state learning activities. In some cases, you might need to sign certain acknowledgements about a program. In other cases, JMU might need to seek approval from your state or territory.
Read the sections below that pertain to you. If you have more questions, please contact the Academic Unit Head of a particular department, faculty member, or onlinelearning@jmu.edu.
Enrolled in an online course and/or online program
If you are enrolled in an online course and/or an online program and live in a U.S. state or territory outside of Virginia, JMU must be authorized to offer the course or program in your state. Please refer to the map of authorized states and territories available at http://nc-sara.org/sara-states-institutions.
Enrolled in a field placement or other "on-the-ground" activity outside of Virginia
If you are enrolled in a for-credit field placement or other on-the-ground learning activity in a state or territory outside of Virginia, JMU must be authorized to offer that activity in your state. Please refer to the map of authorized states and territories available at http://nc-sara.org/sara-states-institutions
JMU would need to seek approval from your state if you are placed in a site where more than 10 other JMU students are simultaneously placed.
Enrolled in a program leading to professional licensure
If you are located outside Virginia and are enrolled in a program that leads to professional licensure, you should know whether JMU's program meets the professional licensing board requirements in the state or territory where you are located. Except for the MS in Accounting program, all of JMU's licensure-related programs meet requirements of the relevant licensing boards in Virginia. However, a program might or not meet the licensing requirements for a particular state outside of Virginia. If you are located in a state or territory in which JMU's program does not meet the relevant licensing board's requirements and you decide to complete the program, you might be asked to sign a letter acknowledging that fact.
To view licensure programs offered by JMU and the states in which they meet educational requirements for licensure, see Public Disclosures: Licensure Programs and State Authorization.
