For purposes of the Private Postsecondary Career School Act:

(1) Agent means any person who owns any interest in, is employed by, or regularly represents for remuneration a private postsecondary career school located within or outside this state who (a) by solicitation made in this state enrolls or seeks to enroll a resident of this state for education offered by such school, (b) offers to award educational credentials for remuneration on behalf of any such school, or (c) holds himself or herself out to residents of this state as representing such a school;

(2) Agent's permit means a nontransferable, written authorization issued to a natural person by the department which allows that person to solicit or enroll any resident of this state for education in a private postsecondary career school;

(3) Authorization to operate means approval by the department to operate a private postsecondary career school in this state;

(4) Board means the State Board of Education;

(5) Branch facility means a facility (a) which is separate from a principal facility, (b) which offers a full program and full student services, (c) which is under the supervision of an onsite director or administrator, and (d)(i) the ownership, management, and control of which are the same as the principal facility, which principal facility is responsible for the delivery of all services, or (ii) at which education is offered by a franchisee of a franchisor authorized to operate as a private postsecondary career school pursuant to the act if the franchisor establishes the course curriculum and guidelines for teaching at the franchisee's facility;

(6) Commission means the Coordinating Commission for Postsecondary Education;

(7) Commissioner means the Commissioner of Education;

(8) Course of study or instruction means a program of study, training, or instruction consisting of a series of lessons or classes which are coordinated as a curriculum or program of instruction to prepare or qualify individuals or improve or upgrade the skills needed for employment, career opportunities, or any specific occupation;

(9) Department means the State Department of Education;

(10) Distance education means instruction offered by any means in which the student and faculty member are in separate physical locations and includes, but is not limited to, online, interactive video, and correspondence courses or programs;

(11) Education or educational services means any class, course, or program of occupational training, instruction, or study;

(12) Entity means any individual, company, firm, society, group, association, partnership, limited liability company, corporation, trust, or other person;

(13) Grant, with respect to educational credentials, means award, sell, confer, bestow, or give;

(14) Offer includes, in addition to its usual meaning, advertising, publicizing, soliciting, or encouraging any person, directly or indirectly, in any form, to perform a described act;

(15) Out-of-state school means any private postsecondary career school which has its place of instruction or its principal location outside the boundaries of this state and which offers or conducts courses of instruction or subjects on the premises of the school, provides distance education, or offers or provides Nebraska students with courses of instruction or subjects through activities engaged in or conducted outside the boundaries of Nebraska;

(16) Principal facility or main school means a private postsecondary career school located in the State of Nebraska;

(17) Private postsecondary career school means any organization or business enterprise which is not specifically exempt under section 85-1604 and which offers a course of study or instruction for which tuition is charged, even though the organization's or business enterprise's principal efforts may not be exclusively educational in nature;

(18) Resident school means any school offering courses of instruction to its students on the school's premises;

(19) Separate classroom means a supplemental training space (a) which is located near the main school for the purpose of expanding the educational offerings or for training an overflow of students who cannot be accommodated at the main school, (b) which is close enough to the main school to assure immediate supervision and administration of all essential student services by the main school and ready access by students to the student services available, and (c) in which the only required onsite service is teaching; and

(20) Short-term training means classes, courses, or programs of instruction or study that are offered for the purpose of training, preparing, or improving a person for an occupation when (a) the total hours of instruction required for completion is sixteen clock hours or less and (b) no final course grade is given to persons enrolled.