Administrative Procedure: Professional Licensure Programs: Determining Student Location and Student Disclosures

A. Purpose:

This procedure outlines required actions of stakeholders across the university to comply with the new federal requirements outlined in 34 CFR § 668.43 as outlined in UW System Administrative Policy 121 (SYS 121) by July 1, 2020.

The federal regulations require that for all academic programs, universities must determine the location of the student enrolled in the program and the subsequent requirement to notify students if professional licensure requirements in the states where they reside are being met by the curriculum of the program. The Office of the Provost and academic programs leading to professional licensure will be involved in managing the ongoing process as necessary.

B. Definitions:

• Student location: Per SYS 121, “a student’s location shall be defined as the place in which the student is currently living or physically located (e.g. current address) at the time of enrollment in a program, not on the student’s state of residency.”
• Time of initial enrollment into a program: The time at which the student is admitted into a program that leads to licensure or certificate. This may differ from the time at which a student is admitted to the university or declares a major. The timing and conditions related to enrollment within a program vary by department. 
• Prospective student: Refers to a student who has made contact with the program representative to learn about program requirements.
• Programs leading to required initial professional licensure or certification: Academic programs designed for or marketed as fulfilling the purpose of preparing graduates to meet the educational requirements for initial professional licensure or certification requirements of a state board. Optional certifications administered through the private sector fall outside the scope of this administrative procedure. Identified professional licensure programs currently available at UW-Platteville include teacher education programs, the social work certificate, and the substance abuse counseling certificate.
• Formal receipt of information regarding change of location: Students are prompted to update their address information upon registration each term. Students may use self-service within the university’s student information system (PASS) to formally update their address at any time. Programs have elected to provide individual disclosures to all students, regardless of student location to ensure all students receive the disclosure, regardless of state in which a student is located. 

C. Determination of Student Location:

For individual professional licensure disclosures, student location for brick-and-mortar students is determined by the “local address” field within the university’s Student Information System (PASS); however, if this field in not populated, the “home address” field shall be used to determine the student’s location. For distance education students enrolled through the Office of Professional Program Support, the “mailing address” field within PASS shall be used to determine the student’s location. If no mailing address is provided, the “home address” field shall be used to determine the student’s location. All students are prompted to update their address information in PASS each term; brick-and-mortar students within the activity guide at textbook pickup, and distance education students upon entering into a registration agreement.

D.  General Disclosures to Prospective and Current Students:

Disclosures related to programs that lead to professional licensure will be located on the disclosures page of the university website here: https://www.uwplatt.edu/disclosures, and will be maintained by the director of the Office of Ethics and Compliance in consultation with the Assistant Provost. It is recommended that webpages and marketing materials for programs that lead to professional licensure include a link to this webpage.

E.  Individual Disclosures to Prospective and Current Students:

Individual disclosures must be in writing (email, letter, or printed on program documents) and be provided to current and prospective students in the following circumstances:

• the program does not meet the educational requirements for initial licensure or certification; or
• the institution has not determined whether the program meets the educational requirements for initial licensure in the state that the student is located; or
• for current students, if the program is determined to no longer meet the educational requirements of the professional licensure program (student to be notified within 14 days of the institution discovering the program no longer meets the licensure requirements).

Based on input from the departments required to provide individual disclosures, it is agreed that the program chairs, or designees, shall provide individual disclosures to all students, regardless of location, upon initial enrollment into the program and in the circumstance outlined herein. Individual disclosure language should align with the general disclosure language. Individual disclosures must be provided to students at or prior to registration for the term in which the student initially enrolls into the program.

F.  Ongoing Management of Process:

The Office of the Provost and the academic program chairs are responsible for ongoing oversight and updates to program disclosures. Updates to the procedure document shall be managed by the director of the Office of Ethics and Compliance in consultation with stakeholders identified herein.

5/26/21 - The Center for Distance Learning has become the Office of Professional Program Support. Technical updates made to reflect this change.

5/13/22 - Reviewed by the Office of the Provost, Office of the Registrar, and the Office of Ethics and Compliance. No changes.

SCHEDULED REVIEW 

Process to be reviewed next in 2024 by the Office of the Provost, Office of the Registrar, and the Office of Ethics and Compliance.