Missouri Code of State Regulations › Title 6 - DEPARTMENT OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT › Division 10 - Commissioner of Higher Education › Chapter 5 - Regulation of Proprietary Schools › Section 6 CSR 10-5.010 - Rules for Certification of Proprietary Schools

Current through Register Vol. 49, No. 14, July 15, 2024
PURPOSE: This amendment updates the overall
				  administrative rule to provide schools an expedited pathway for offering short
				  courses of instruction for personal or professional development or continuing
				  education credit without the requirement to complete a more comprehensive and
				  costly program review process. The amendment defines test preparation as it
				  relates to exemption and clarifies language related to physical presence as an
				  exemption criterion, clarifies the requirement for information disclosures
				  pertinent to operation of a certified school, and clarifies language related to
				  two- (2-) year certification, personnel qualifications, and competency-based
				  credit.
(1) Definitions.
				Definitions are consistent with those set forth in the statutory authorization.
(A) "Academic progress" or "satisfactory
				academic progress" means the policy and procedures for periodically evaluating,
				measuring, and recording the extent to which each student is meeting stated
				course or program requirements and objectives, including timely completion of
				the program, and includes any consequences of failure to comply with the
				policy.
(B) "Accredited school"
				means a school that holds institutional accredited status from a national or
				regional accrediting agency or association recognized by the United States
				Department of Education or the Council for Higher Education Accreditation as a
				reliable authority concerning the quality of education or training provided by
				institutions of higher education.
(C) Advertising" means any printed, pub-
				lished, recorded, broadcast, electronically transmitted, or publicly presented
				informa- tion that markets or describes the school for any purpose.
(D)  Agent" means any employee, solici- tor,
				or other person who, for remuneration, by any means and at a place away from
				the school premises or site of instruction, enrolls or attempts to enroll a
				resident of this state in a course or courses of instruction or study offered
				or maintained by a proprietary school, wherever located, or otherwise holds
				himself/herself out to a resident of this state as representing a proprietary
				school for such purposes.
(E)
				"Board" or "Coordinating Board" means the Coordinating Board for Higher
				Education created by section 173.005(2), RSMo.
(F) "Branch campus" or "branch" means a
				geographically separate and permanent instructional facility located in
				Missouri that is derived from and controlled by its main Missouri campus. A
				branch campus may provide complete and distinct programs and employ unique or
				shared instructional and administrative personnel. A branch may produce and
				maintain its own institutional and student records.
(G) "Certificate" means any award for
				successfully completing a program of instruction, including a diploma, that
				does not have a degree designation.
(H) "Certificate of approval" means the
				document issued by the Coordinating Board indicating a school may operate in
				compliance with this rule and the provisions of sections
				173.600 through
				173.619,
				RSMo.
(I)  Certified" or "approved"
				means hav- ing been granted a certificate of approval by the Coordinating
				Board, pursuant to section 173.604, RSMo.
(J) "Contact hour" or "clock hour" means a
				minimum of fifty (50) minutes of instruction or training during a sixty (60)
				minute period that is directed and supervised by an instructor or
				trainer.
(K) "Continuing education"
				means a course, module, or program of instruction no more than twenty-five (25)
				contact hours in length that is not portrayed or advertised as having a
				primarily vocational or academic objective but is designed for personal or
				professional development of a student and typically results in the awarding of
				a certificate of attendance and may carry continuing education credit.
(L) "Continuous operation" means
				a certificate of approval to operate in Missouri that has been maintained
				without lapse, suspension, or revocation.
(M) "Course" means a defined and unique educational
				offering with discrete objectives and requirements in support of a program,
				regardless of how the offering is delivered.
(N) "Credit hour" means the unit of quantitative
				measurement of educational attainment earned in a course, generally stated in
				semester, trimester, or quarter hours. The basis of measuring a credit hour
				shall be defined in accordance with the standards of a school's accreditor or,
				in the absence of accreditation, defined to be consistent with the definition
				of such generally employed at institutions of American higher education, as
				determined by the department.
(O)
				"Degree" means any award, earned or honorary, conferred with the designation of
				associate, baccalaureate, master, professional or professional development,
				specialist, or doctorate.
(P)
				"Department" means the Department of Higher Education created by section
				173.005(1),
				RSMo.
(Q) "Exempt" means having
				been determined to be a school or instructional program eligible for release
				from the provisions of sections
				173.600 to
				173.619,
				RSMo, pursuant to section
				173.616,
				RSMo.
(R) "Extension site" or
				"extension" means any geographically separate and either temporary or permanent
				instructional facility located within reasonable geographic proximity to a main
				or branch campus, that is entirely auxiliary to and operated by a main or
				branch campus. An extension site shall not provide distinct programs, employ
				significant administrative personnel, or maintain its own institutional or
				student records.
(S) "Formal
				grievance" means a complaint against a certified school that is submitted on
				forms provided by the department and completes the review process through the
				final disposition.
(T) "Grievance
				policy" means the school's internal procedures through which a student may
				formally make a complaint regarding actions of a school and a school may make
				its response to such a complaint.
(U) "Lapse" means a certificate of approval to operate
				that has not been renewed by the deadline established by the
				department.
(V) "Main campus"
				means the primary Missouri instructional facility of a school, as so designated
				by the school. For accredited schools, the main campus is the one to which
				accreditation is directly conferred and from which other campus locations
				derive their accreditation.
(W)
				"New program" means an academic or vocational educational offering not
				previously approved by the department or a current offering delivered in a
				format not previously approved by the department. New program shall also mean
				an approved academic or vocational offering whose components, including but not
				limited to, program length, required hours, and/or content, have been modified
				by fifty percent (50%) or more.
(X) "Operate" means to establish, keep, or maintain
				any facility at a location or locations in this state where, from, or through
				which education is offered or given and shall include contracting with any
				person, group, or entity to perform any such act.
(Y) "Person" means any individual, corporation,
				partnership, association, or business entity of any kind or
				description.
(Z) "Physical
				presence" means any person or location within the state of Missouri where,
				from, or through which a school operates for the purpose of conducting an
				activity relating to postsecondary education, including the granting of
				certificates or degrees, or for the purpose of recruiting students. Location is
				defined to include any address, physical site, electronic device, or telephone
				number within or originating from within the boundaries of the state of
				Missouri. Physical presence shall also mean a formally scheduled instructional
				interaction organized by or through a school taking place between two (2) or
				more students and/or instructors within the state of Missouri. Physical
				presence does not include any activity conducted by a school based outside of
				Missouri covered by the provisions of the State Authorization Reciprocity
				Agreement.
(AA) "Program" or
				"program of instruction" means a complete academic or vocational educational
				offering which fulfills the requirements for the awarding of a certificate or
				degree. A program may consist of one (1) or multiple courses, and shall, upon
				satisfactory completion, fulfill an academic, occupational, or other training
				objective.
(BB) "Proprietary
				school" or "school" means any person not specifically exempted in the
				authorizing statute which offers or maintains on either a profit or
				not-for-profit basis within the state of Missouri a course or courses of
				instruction or study through classroom instruction or correspondence, or which
				grants certificates or earned or honorary degrees.
(CC) "Public institution" means a postsecondary
				educational institution established by provisions of Missouri constitutional or
				statutory law or established by the voters of the district in which it is
				located, which is funded fifty percent (50%) or more of its operating costs
				from public funds; which is governed by a body appointed by the governor and
				approved by the senate, or selected by the voters of the district in which it
				is located and which operates on a not-for-profit basis.
(DD) "Religious degree" or "religious program" means
				any degree or program with a specific theological, biblical, divinity, or other
				religious designation. Religious degrees or programs shall not include those
				with a designation that generally denotes a secular degree, including, but not
				limited to, associate, baccalaureate, master or doctor of arts, science,
				humanities, philosophy, law, business, education, medicine, and other
				designations of non-religious disciplines.
(EE) "Substantive change" means a modification of
				twenty percent (20%) or more of a program's components including, but not
				limited to, program length, required hours, and/or content.
(FF) "Transcript" or "transcript record" means a
				student's permanent educational record.
(GG) "Test prep" or "test preparation course"
				means a course that is solely designed to enhance performance on an examination
				leading to occupational eligibility or admission to a postsecondary
				institution. The Coordinating Board shall deem test-prep courses or programs
				offered for postsecondary credit or advertised as providing postsecondary
				credit as proprietary schools pursuant to section
				173.602,
				RSMo.