The Office of Distance and Extended Learning is Texas State's home for courses and programs offered through correspondence, extension, and study abroad. This office also provides information on Texas State's distance learning programs, courses, initiatives, and resources to our community of distance learners and educators.
On October 29, 2010, the U.S. Department of Education (USDOE) released new program integrity regulations. One of the regulations focused on the need for an institution offering distance or correspondence education to acquire authorization from any outside state in which it operates. This authorization is required to maintain eligibility for students of that state to receive federal financial aid. Institutions have until July 1, 2014, to obtain the appropriate approvals. Meanwhile, an institution is required to demonstrate a "good faith" effort to comply in each state in which it serves students, and states with regulations in place expect that institutions already be in compliance with their regulations before serving any students in those states.
What This Means
Before accepting enrollments exclusively for online and correspondence courses from students residing outside of Texas, Texas State must be in compliance with the distance learning regulations of the states in which students reside. Some states require universities to seek approval before enrolling their residents, and the approval processes can be expensive and time intensive.
What Texas State Is Doing
Texas State continues to work to obtain authorization to enroll students from other states. However, due to authorization and review processes associated with some states, we may be limited in our ability to accept some distance learning course enrollments.
The states Texas State is currently authorized to accept online enrollments from are the following:
| Arizona | Indiana | South Dakota |
| California | Maine | Tennessee |
| Colorado | Michigan | Vermont |
| Florida | Missouri | |
| Hawaii | Nevada | |
| Illinois | New York |
If your state is not listed above, please contact distanceed@txstate.edu to inquire about the current status of your state with regard to this USDOE state authorization requirement. Depending on the status of your state of residence regarding this requirement, Texas State may notify you that you are not eligible to register for Texas State distance education courses. In this case, Texas State will provide assistance in finding alternatives.
Texas State School of Social Work's online MSW (Master of Social Work) program was ranked 7th among Top Colleges for Online Social Work Programs by TheBestColleges.org. These rankings are based on several factors, including school and program reputation, student satisfaction, peer and instructional quality, and overall affordability.
See the Schedule of Classes for a list of courses offered online, on evenings and weekends, and at the Round Rock Higher Education Center. Listings are divided accordingly on the Schedule of Classes main page.
Join the Conversation