A. A career school or nonregionally accredited college or university operating in New Mexico shall be licensed by the department. It is unlawful to operate a career school or nonregionally accredited college or university without first obtaining a license from the department.

B. A college or university operating in New Mexico that is not regionally accredited or is not seeking regional accreditation by an accrediting agency approved by the department shall be licensed by the department in the manner provided for career schools or other nonregionally accredited colleges or universities. It is unlawful to operate a college or university that is not accredited or seeking accreditation by an accrediting agency approved by the department without first obtaining a license from the department.

C. No person other than an employee of an institution licensed pursuant to this section shall, for a salary or fee, solicit attendance at that institution.

History: 1978 Comp., § 21-23-6.1, enacted by Laws 1994, ch. 108, § 8; 2005, ch. 223, § 5; 2013, ch. 59, § 6.

The 2013 amendment, effective June 14, 2013, changed terms to assign administration of the Post-Secondary Educational Institution Act to the higher education department; and in Subsections A and B, deleted "commission" and added "department".

The 2005 amendment, effective June 17, 2005, provided in Subsection A that a non-regionally accredited college or university operating in New Mexico shall be licensed by the commission; changed "accredited" to "regionally accredited" and changed "accreditation" to "regional accreditation" in Subsection B; and provided in Subsection B that a college or university that is operating in New Mexico but that is not regionally accredited or seeking regional accreditation shall be licensed in the manner provided for non-regionally accredited colleges or universities.