32-3001. Definitions

In this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires:

1. "Accredited" means accredited by an accrediting agency that is recognized by the United States department of education.

2. "Board" means the state board for private postsecondary education.

3. "Degree" means an academic degree or honorary degree or the title of any designation, mark, appellation, series of letters or words, including associate, bachelor, master, doctor or fellow, that signifies, purports to signify or is generally taken to signify satisfactory completion of the requirements of an educational program of study beyond the secondary school level or that is an honorary title conferred for recognition of some meritorious achievement.

4. "Grant" means to award, bestow, confer, convey or sell.

5. "Operate" means to either:

(a) Establish and maintain a physical presence in this state, including a facility, location or mailing address, and an in-state director.

(b) Provide postsecondary education through online distance education to a person who resides in this state if the institution is not a participant in the national council for state authorization reciprocity agreements.

6. "Out-of-state registration" means an authorization issued by the board to a private postsecondary education institution domiciled outside of this state that enrolls a resident of this state in an online program when the private postsecondary education institution is not a participant in the national council for state authorization reciprocity agreement.

7. "Private vocational program" means an instructional program that includes a course or group of courses as defined in section 15-101 for which a student does not earn a degree, that is designed to provide or is advertised as providing a student with sufficient skills for entry into a paid occupation, and that is not conducted solely by a public school, public community college or public university.