NC-SARA Complaint Process
The Graduate School and University Consortium has been approved to participate in the National Council for State Authorization Reciprocity Agreements (NC-SARA). A number of U.S. states and territories have entered into a voluntary agreement called the State Authorization Reciprocity Agreement (SARA) that establishes one set of national standards and regulations for offering certain out of state activities.
Under NC-SARA rules, students have the right to lodge a complaint or grievance if that student’s experience in an online program is not what they anticipate. Note that complaints regarding grades and general student conduct issues are not governed by this distance education complaint process.
PLEASE NOTE: Student complaints should first be heard by the program or department in the CUNY School in which they are registered. If a student’s complaint is not resolved in a satisfactory manner by an academic program, a student may contact the GC Provost’s Office (provost@gc.cuny.edu) and/or the GC Ombuds Office (ombuds@gc.cuny.edu) for further resolution.
CUNY students who have complaints that have not otherwise been resolved through contact with Graduate Center internal offices (as discussed above) may seek advisement from the New York State Education Department.
Supervisor of Higher Education Programs
New York State Education Department
89 Washington Avenue
Albany, NY 12234
(518) 474-1551
IHEauthorize@nysed.gov
Should a complaint not be resolved through the above entities, the contact information for CUNY’s regional accreditor (Middle States Commission on Higher Education) is provided below.
Middle States Commission on Higher Education
1007 North Orange Street
4th Floor, MB #166
Wilmington, DE 19801
Telephone: (267) 284-5011
E-mail: info@msche.org
For more information, please see:
- SARA Student Complaint Process
- New York State Education Department's Filing a Complaint About a College or University
