National Online Educators Face Struggles with State Regulations

In an article on Oct 13, The Wired Campus, The Chronicle on Higher Education's tech blog, reported that distance educators, state regulators, and accreditors met in Washington, D.C. in an "attempt to reconcile the desires of a booming cross-border online-education industry with the need to protect consumers from shady online operators and resolve their complaints."

The article states that, "The problem, in the eyes of those who want reform, is a decentralized higher-education system that empowers each state to establish its own rules. Distance institutions must often get approval to do business in each jurisdiction. That means untangling a “complex and redundant web of processes, regulations, and standards,” says the report, called “Aligning State Approval and Regional Accreditation for Online Postsecondary Institutions.” It costs lots of money, takes lots of time, and ultimately restricts access to education, the report argues.

“We’ve got a structure here that was created for the 19th and 20th century,” says John F. Ebersole, president of Excelsior College, a distance-learning institution based in New York. “It is not appropriate for the 21st century.”

The situation is made worse because some states “create defensive barriers to protect in-state institutions from external competition,” says the new report, published by the Presidents’ Forum, a collaboration of national, adult-serving institutions that embrace online education. Local colleges or professional associations occasionally prod institutions to build protectionist walls. "Some may discriminate specifically against online learning," the report says.

[...] The big issue is who deals with problems like student complaints, administrative misbehavior, and unqualified faculty, he says. State licensing agencies set up their "vast list of rules" to "prevent problems and resolve those that occur," he says, "because no one else can or will."

What do you think? Who should deal with problems like student complaints and unqualified faculty if state regulations are lifted?