In spring 2011, WCET (WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies) created the State Authorization Network (SAN) to serve institutions and organizations nationwide by providing training, support, and opportunities to collaborate to navigate regulatory compliance for out-of-state activities of post-secondary institutions. SAN held its first meeting on April 6, 2011, in Boulder, Colorado, to bring the new organization members together with experts to explain the vision for the network, public policy behind state authorization, federal and state compliance issues, and the possibility of reciprocity in the future.

Today, this important work continues. By joining SAN, members will receive important interstate compliance support in the years to come to manage Federal compliance, compliment 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 provides deeper examination and strategy consideration for regulatory compliance including ancillary regulatory issues related to educational technologies.

SAN members collaborate to address the problems, discuss solutions, and prepare for the future.

Currently, SAN maintains more than 150 memberships that include approximately 900 institutions and organizations nationwide!  View our current SAN Participants.

Follow Us on LinkedIn - State Authorization Network (SAN).

Beginning in 2018, SAN established the SAN Advisory Group. The eight member panel of SAN members serve the membership by making recommendations on programmatic issues of interest to the membership at-large. The SAN Advisory Group meets virtually periodically and will attempt to create a face-to-face meeting opportunity to coincide with the NASASPS Annual Conference, which is a collaboration with SAN.

Anyone who is a staff member with a SAN member institution or organization can be nominated to serve on the Advisory Group.  Nominees do not have to be designated as the “SAN coordinator” for the membership. 

You may wish to review the SAN Advisory Group - Procedures document.

If you have any further questions, please contact Kathryn Kerensky, kkerensky@wiche.edu

SAN members may apply to and participate in Special Interest Teams (SIT).

What is a Special Interest Team (SIT)?

• Small issue workgroup – 7 people on each team.
• Meets virtually for a period of time (as needed to address the issue).
• To discuss and research identified topics (issues of concern to SAN members).
• Team members will do independent research to contribute to the team.
• Provides deliverables as determined by The Team. Examples could include:  white papers, webcasts, task list, one pagers, etc. etc.

Special Interest Teams were developed with the advice and recommendations of the SAN Advisory Group.  The topics will continue to be identified for future Special Interest Teams.

 Current SAN Special Interest Team topics include:

1. Professional Licensure Research, Disclosures and Collaboration: Developed essential resources for SAN members. Explore their resources here.
2. Institutional Engagement: Produced a significant survey analysis on the roles of state authorization professionals. Read the 2023 Profile of a State Authorization Professional.

Interested in Joining a SAN Special Interest Team (SIT)?
Please use this form to indicate your interest in one of the following SITs:

• Professional Licensure: Seeking new members and fresh project ideas.
• Global Compliance: A new team will set goals and deliverables in collaboration with SAN staff and the Advisory Group.
• Institutional Engagement: New project ideas, including stakeholder buy-in and policy creation.

WCET (WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies) is the leader in the practice, policy, & advocacy of technology-enhanced learning in higher education. WCET is a national, member-driven, non-profit which brings together colleges, universities, higher education organizations, and companies to collectively improve the quality and reach of technology-enhanced learning programs.  WCET was founded by WICHE (Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education) to meet a growing need to integrate distance learning and educational technology into the academic services of higher education institutions in the western region.  The WCET membership is a critical part of SAN.  WCET, an established organization for more than 30 years, provides information on relevant topic areas that are critical for compliance staff to engage in meaningful dialogue at the institution to develop institutionally unified compliance strategies. We invite you to learn more about membership and consider joining WCET. Learn more about the benefits of joining both WCET and SAN.