Policies and Procedures

SACS Compliance

Louisiana State University and A&M College is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges to award baccalaureate, master’s, and doctoral degrees. Contact the Commission on Colleges at 1866 Southern Lane, Decatur, Georgia 30033-4097 or call 407-679-4500 for questions about the accreditation of Louisiana State University and A&M College. There is a three-fold purpose for publishing the address and contact number of the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. This is done to enable interested constituents:

  1. to learn about the accreditation status of LSU
  2. to file a third-party comment at the time of LSU’s decennial review
  3. to file a third-party complaint against LSU for alleged non-compliance with a standard requirement of the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools

Direct all other inquiries about programs, services, or admission directly to LSU. Normal inquiries about LSU should be directed to LSU, not the Commission’s office. Contact information for university offices and departments can be found in the LSU A-Z listing on the university’s home page at the following link: https://www.lsu.edu/a-z/index.php. SACSOC is one of six regional commissions in the US that accredits degree-granting institutions. Currently, SACSCOC accredits approximately 800 institutions in 11 southern states–Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia–and in Latin America. LSU is one of the member institutions of SACSCOC, meaning that LSU participates in the development, amendment, and approval of accreditation requirements. According to its mission statement, “Accreditation by SACSCOC signifies that the institution:

  • has a mission appropriate to higher education
  • has resources, programs, and services sufficient to accomplish and sustain that mission
  • maintains clearly specified educational objectives that are consistent with its mission and appropriate to the degrees it offers and that indicate whether it is successful in achieving its stated objectives

SACSCOC accreditation requires institutions to comply with the nearly 100 standards contained in the Principles of Accreditation: Foundations for Quality Enhancement. SACSCOC accreditation is necessary for LSU because it:

  • allows students to graduate from “an accredited institution”
  • permits students to receive federal funding for their education
  • enables faculty to seek and receive support through federal grants and contracts
  • assures all other disciplinary accrediting organizations of an appropriate level of learning

For accreditation purposes, LSU is considered as a Level VI, Track B institution. Level VI institutions are accredited to award doctoral degrees in four or more academic or professional disciplines. Track B institutions offer undergraduate and graduate degrees or graduate degrees only.

LSU Policy on Intellectual Property

The LSU Policy on Intellectual Property (found in Chapter VII of the Board’s Regulations) addresses matters related to online courses as follows: LSU recognizes the traditional rights of academic authors to their regular academic works, including educational course materials developed for teaching of an in-person course for credit. LSU releases to the author any copyright it may otherwise own in those materials, while reserving a non-exclusive, fully paid right to make copies and use those materials as a part of course instruction. However, when course materials or other similar materials developed by an author are used to produce a derivative work, including an audio, video or digital version for use in online learning, then LSU retains ownership of the copyright in those materials and can use them in its discretion.

If LSU uses those course materials in an online course offered by LSU, the authors are not entitled to receive any portion of tuition or fees that LSU receives for the delivery of that course. If, however, LSU receives payments from a third-party entity for licensing the course materials to be used in an online course, then the authors are entitled to share in the net income according to the revenue sharing distribution defined in the bylaws. Louisiana State University System released the Copyright Guidelines Regarding Electronic Learning letter from the Office of the President in 2002, which may be of interest. For questions regarding LSU’s intellectual property for distance learning policy, please contact Greg Trahan, Assistant Vice President of Strategic Research Partnerships, gtrahan1@lsu.edu.

Memberships & Compliance

Recognizing the growing demand for distance education opportunities, higher education stakeholders joined together to establish the State Authorization Reciprocity Agreement (SARA), which streamline regulations around distance education programs.

In addition, States maintain independent authority to regulate out-of-state post-secondary institutions that offer or participate in activities located in their state to protect students as consumers, the general public, and other interests of the state. Institutions must follow the State laws and regulations of the state in which an institution's activities take place. Compliance management for out-of-state activities is regulated by the State Authorization Network (SAN).

LSU maintains membership with both the State Authorization Network (SAN) and the National Council for State Authorization Reciprocity Agreements (NC-SARA). With so many moving components, LSU Online remains proactive in our efforts to offer a prestigious online learning experience, which embodies regulatory compliance program wide.

Why does this matter?

  • SARA helps expand students’ access to educational opportunities and ensure more efficient, consistent, and effective regulation of distance education programs.
  • SARA shares out-of-state learning experience data like clinical hours and practice teaching and provides valuable oversight of distance education programs.
  • SAN members will receive important interstate compliance support in the years to come to manage Federal compliance, complement institutional state approvals through reciprocity (SARA), as well as continuing to support institutions attaining state institutional approval through traditional individual state by state process.
  • SAN members collaborate to address the problems, discuss solutions, and prepare for the future.
  • In partnership with four regional compacts, NC-SARA educates all states, institutions, policymakers, and students on understanding the purpose and benefits of participating.

NC-SARA memberships require institutions to comply with the nearly 100 standards contained in the SARA policy manual. These standards are necessary to ensure that our institution is providing the highest quality of distance learning standards for each program we offer across the board.

Today, more than 2,400 institutions in 49 member states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands all voluntarily participate in SARA. In the NC-SARA mission statement, membership signifies that the institution:

  • has a mission appropriate to higher education.
  • has resources, programs, and services sufficient to accomplish said mission.

SAN memberships help ensure that we are compliant at the state level (regardless of modality), that we have the needed resources and information for digital learning, and that we are aware of policy, policy changes, required state and federal regulations, and the approval processes in place for consumer protection, with students in mind at the forefront. SAN currently maintains more than 180 memberships that include approximately 950 institutions and organizations nationwide! To read more and view a detailed breakdown of State Compliance, Federal Compliance and Compliance by Reciprocity, visit the SAN website here under Why Comply?

SAN is a membership organization created by WCET - the WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies, a national membership organization; The leader in practice, policy, & advocacy of digital learning in higher education. WCET is a unit of WICHE - professionally known as the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education; Promoting innovation, cooperation, resource sharing and sound public policy.

Memberships are for distance learning programs that are offered 100% Online by way of LSU Online. LSU Online currently serves six campuses within the LSU System: LSUA, LSU A&M, LSUE, LSUS, LSUH-S, LSUH-NO. SAN membership is maintained by LSU Online for LSU A&M only at this time. NC-SARA memberships are maintained by each individual campus, respectively. WCET membership is maintained System-Wide through the Louisiana Board of Regents (BoR) for all campuses. For more questions regarding these memberships and compliance, please contact your respective campus representative.