State Authorization Reciprocity Agreements

New Mexico Highlands University is approved to offer educational programs in almost every state and territory in the United States through participation in the State Authorization Reciprocity Agreement (SARA.)

SARA requires participating colleges and universities to adhere to rigorous standards in offering online education.  NMHU’s participation is governed by the New Mexico Higher Education Department and the Western Interstate Cooperative for Higher Education (WICHE.)

Please Note:  NMHU cannot guarantee that degree programs or courses will satisfy requirements for professional licensure outside the State of New Mexico. If you intend to apply for a professional license outside New Mexico, please contact the licensing authority in that state to verify whether your selected program of study will satisfy licensure requirements.

Information for Out-of-State Applicants

New Mexico Highlands University (NMHU) offers multiple programs leading to professional licensure or certification within the State of New Mexico and may also meet the requirements in other states.

Beginning July 1, 2020, the U.S. Department of Education requires institutions to provide information about their programs that lead to licensure or certification. Specifically, whether a program meets, does not meet, or has not yet been determined if it meets, licensure/certification requirements in all the U.S. states and territories. The professional licensure information is provided in accordance with U.S. Federal Regulations, 34 CFR § 668.50 (2016 Rules), 34 CFR § 668.43 (2019 Rules), and NMHU’s membership in the National Council of State Authorization Reciprocity Agreements (NC-SARA).

This Disclosure is strictly limited to the NMHU’s determination of whether its initial teacher licensure or counseling programs, that if successfully completed, would be sufficient to meet the licensure or certification requirements in each state and territory.  Please note NMHU cannot provide verification of an individual’s ability to meet licensure or certification requirements unrelated to its educational programming.  Such individual determinations are made by state licensing boards and are fact-specific determinations.

This disclosure does not provide any guarantee that any particular state licensure or certification entity will approve or deny your application. Furthermore, this disclosure does not account for changes in state law or regulation that may affect your application for licensure and occur after this disclosure has been made. NMHU has designed educational programs in counseling and teacher education and has made no determination that the licensure curricula is insufficient to meet the licensure and certification requirements for initial teaching certification in any of the 50 states and territories.

Enrolled students and prospective students are strongly encouraged to contact their state’s licensure entity using the links provided below to review all licensure and certification requirements imposed by their state(s) of choice as THEY CAN CHANGE AT ANY TIME.

Please note:

• NMHU Counseling Programs are Nationally accredited by CACREP which may impact reciprocity.
• NMHU Teacher Preparation Programs are nationally accredited CAEP which may impact reciprocity.
• The NASDTEC Interstate Agreement publishes annual updates on state licensure information.

New Mexico Highlands University has reviewed the educational requirements for social work licensing in all states. The list below indicates whether our curriculum meets, does not meet, or whether we have been unable to determine the educational portion of licensure requirements.

Please note that NMHU cannot guarantee that any particular state will approve or deny an application for licensure. Each state sets its own standards which may change from time to time including after the date that this information was compiled.

The student successfully completing the Clinical/Counseling Psychology track will have met the educational and training requirements (including the clinical practicum hours) to qualify for licensure as a counselor in the state of New Mexico (LMHC) and other states.

There are state-by-state differences in licensure requirements, and the requirements for licensure described in some states have some ambiguity. In many states, the Board that licenses master’s- level counselors has been influenced by CACREP accreditation language. Our M.S. in Clinical/Counseling Psychology is accredited by MPCAC, which itself is CHEA-accredited. Our MPCAC-accredited program meets the 8 core educational requirements of CACREP.

New Mexico Highlands University is approved to offer educational programs in almost every state and territory in the United States through participation in the State Authorization Reciprocity Agreement (SARA.)

SARA requires participating colleges and universities to adhere to rigorous standards in offering online education. NMHU’s participation is governed by the New Mexico Higher Education Department and the Western Interstate Cooperative for Higher Education (WICHE.)