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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. To initiate this process, the student should first contact the head of the program or department (department chair, executive officer, master’s director, etc.), who will coordinate the process according to program procedures. 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. Students have two years to submit their complaint.

Student Complaint Process

Under NC-SARA consumer protection rules, students have the right to lodge a complaint related to consumer protections and/or NC-SARA policy via the NC-SARA complaint process. Refer to Section 4 of the SARA Policy Manual version 25.2 for details on what consumer complaints and protections are covered by the process. Please note that NC-SARA complaints do not include complaints related to grades or student conduct violations, complaints of this nature must be lodged through the SPS internal complaint process.

Decisions resulting from the CUNY SPS complaint process may be appealed to The City University of New York (CUNY). A complaint against a college in the CUNY system can be made via the Office of Student Advocacy and Referral:

City University of New York
Office of Student Advocacy and Referral
205 East 42nd St.
New York, NY 10017
Email: studentaffairs@cuny.edu

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 Graduate Center or NYSED, a student may next seek advisement from the Middle States Commission on Higher Education.

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: