Professional Licensure Public Disclosures Policy

Purpose

As required by federal regulations in 34 CFR 668.43(a)(5)(v) and in compliance with the State Authorization Reciprocity Agreements (SARA) Manual, Northern Illinois University must disclose programs designed and advertised to lead directly to licensure or certification and to indicate whether those programs’ curriculum meet or do not meet the educational requirements for licensure or certification in each U.S. state and territory. If the program curriculum does not meet the educational requirements for licensure or certification in the US state or territory in which an NIU student is located, the student must acknowledge they were informed of the program’s status and attest they intend to seek employment in a state in which their intended program does meet the education requirements for professional licensure or certification.  If they cannot provide this attestation, NIU cannot enroll them in the program leading to licensure. These public licensure disclosures also address requirements found in 38 CFR Part 21 relating to veterans’ education benefits.

The following policy narrative defines key terms to operationalize NIU’s implementation of this federal regulation.

Policy Narrative

Student Location

For the purpose of this policy only, a prospective student is anyone who has submitted a Northern Illinois University admissions application.

A prospective student’s location (not residency) is the U.S. state or territory listed in the permanent address included in their Northern Illinois University admissions application or educational program equivalent.

When a prospective student’s permanent address state is not Illinois and they intend to enroll in a program that does not meet the educational requirements for licensure or certification in that state, they must submit a statement of the following:

• An acknowledgement that their intended program does not meet the educational requirements for licensure or certification in that state in which they are located.
• An attestation of intent to seek employment in a state in which their intended program does meet the education requirements for professional licensure or certification.

The written attestation must be in the form prescribed by Northern Illinois University.

This policy only determines location (not residency) for purposes of professional licensure as governed by 34 CFR § 668.43 and is not a factor in determining residency for tuition purposes. All other university policies that determine Illinois residency for the purpose of tuition assessment will not be superseded by this policy.

Initial Enrollment

Initial Enrollment is defined as the term for which a student applies and is admitted to NIU; the term in which a program submits an Entitlement Worksheet form to Educator Licensure and Preparation; and/or the term in which a student submits a major change form to a program leading to a required licensure/certification.