As used in Sections 21-101 through 21-203 of this title:

1. "Act" means Sections 21-201 through 21-203 of this title that enables the Oklahoma Board of Private Vocational Schools to approve licenses for state authorization of postsecondary education or certain other forms of vocational-technical training and education;

2. "Private school" means any privately owned, nonpublic entity that receives remuneration that is approved for a state authorization license and provides postsecondary education, or provides vocational-technical education prior to the person obtaining a high school diploma or its equivalency;

3. "Board" means the Oklahoma Board of Private Vocational Schools;

4. "Approval by the State Regents for Higher Education" means approval:

a.for a postsecondary institution to offer one or more associate, bachelor, master, or doctoral degrees in a specific degree program,

b.of an entity to offer distance education for a degree(s) that is granted by means of applying an interstate reciprocity agreement to which the State Regents for Higher Education is a party, or

c.of an entity by way of the provision of documentation of independent accreditation by one or more regional or national accrediting organizations which are recognized by the U.S. Department of Education;

5. "Branch" means an additional location, separate facility, or satellite to a main school that is defined by the organizational, geographic, or legal characteristics of the entities;

6. "Business" means skills including but not limited to administration, customer relations, finance, human resources, leadership, management, marketing or strategic planning used to run a for-profit or not-for-profit entity;

7. "Combines" means offering within the same catalog, website or other form of publication or advertisement in such a way to convey that the entity makes available more than one type or level of training or education;

8. "Contact hour" means a period of time defined by a school, seminar or workshop such as fifty (50) minutes which may differ from a clock hour that will always be sixty (60) minutes in length;

9. "Correspondence course" means a form of instruction for which a student receives lessons or assignments from a private school by means of postal or other couriers;

10. "Distance education" means education or training provided outside the traditional classroom by use of electronic mediums, including but not limited to online or virtual education, e-learning or computer-based, -aided or -assisted instruction;

11. "General education" means education to complete a student's secondary education recognition providing instruction not specific to any single occupation or vocation;

12. "Industrial" means related to manufacturing or other labor which may or may not require skilled trade licensing;

13. "Occupation" or "vocation" means employment, either full-time, part-time, by contract or on a consulting basis, for which a person earns remuneration;

14. "Postgraduate certificate" means an advanced certification earned following a student's receipt of an associate, bachelor, master or doctorate degree that qualifies the individual for specialized career advancement or job assignments;

15. "Postsecondary education" means a program that requires a student to have a high school diploma, high school equivalency certificate or requires that the person be beyond the age of compulsory education;

16. "Primarily in the business of" means that an entity earns twenty percent (20%) or more of its gross revenue from providing a program(s) of instruction, as documented by certified public-accountant-prepared financial statements that are attested to as a true and correct statement of financial condition by an entity owner(s);

17. "Profession" or "professional" means those occupations or vocations relating to such fields of employment that generally require an advanced degree or for which an individual must pass extensive prelicensing testing. Examples include but are not limited to attorneys and certified professional accountants. Professions may or may not require ongoing continuing education that may be subject to the authority or jurisdiction of an alternate state agency;

18. "Program", "program of study" or "program of instruction" means a body of organized instruction that leads to a degree, certificate, diploma or other recognized educational credential, or provides transferable skills applicable to a business, professional, trade or vocational-technical or industrial occupation or vocation;

19. "Public" means an entity that is established as a governmental entity;

20. "Seminar" or "workshop" means a program of instruction that results in business, professional, or vocational-technical knowledge that applies to one or more occupations or vocations but will not provide degree credit hours, a certificate or a diploma;

21. "Solicitor" means a representative of a private school that leaves the physical facility of the school to attend job fairs, career days or other activities to market to new students or to attempt to secure new student enrollments;

22. "Technical" means those skills that are unique to certain occupations or vocations;

23. "Trade" means a skilled trade including but not limited to electrical, plumbing, and heating and air conditioning (HVAC), that requires an individual to maintain a state or municipal license; and

24. "Tuition" means a financial charge made for the provision of education or training, regardless of the term assigned to the monetary or other exchange.

Added by Laws 1970, c. 65, § 1, operative July 1, 1970. Renumbered from Title 70, § 1444.1 by Laws 1971, c. 281, § 24-123, eff. July 2, 1971. Amended by Laws 1976, c. 86, § 1, emerg. eff. May 4, 1976; Laws 1982, c. 303, § 6, operative July 1, 1982; Laws 1983, c. 280, § 7, operative July 1, 1983; Laws 1986, c. 111, § 1, eff. July 1, 1986; Laws 1986, c. 258, § 11, operative July 1, 1986; Laws 1991, c. 270, § 18, eff. July 1, 1991; Laws 1995, c. 305, § 18, eff. July 1, 1995; Laws 1999, c. 398, § 3, eff. July 1, 1999; Laws 2014, c. 276, § 1.