NC-SARA Exclusive Distance Ed: Why In-State vs. Out-of-State Changes the Story
Some states primarily extend offerings by online modalities, while others explicitly rely on importing students
Phil Hill
January 27, 2026
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Friday’s post showed exclusive distance education (DE) enrollment by student location based on NC-SARA data, revealing strong regional patterns even after excluding California institutions (as that state does not participate in the State Authorization Reciprocity Agreement). The top chart shows Exclusive DE enrollments by the Institution’s state, with variation from the average (red = below average, green = above). The bottom chart shows the same, using NC-SARA data, based on the student location.
What the original chart already told us (and still does)
A few points are worth restating briefly:
