At St. Francis College, our mission is to provide the best educational experience possible. Institutions of Higher Education must provide both current and prospective students with contact information for filing complaints with the appropriate state agency for handling complaints in the home state (New York State) of the institution, in addition to its accrediting body.
Please review the below disclosures for important general and state-specific information relating to St. Francis College’s online programs before choosing to enroll from a state outside of New York.
Out-of-state students who are enrolled in a St. Francis College online course or program and who have a complaint about an online course or program, should follow the St. Francis College student grievance policy, as outlined in The Cord, which serves as the College’s student manual.
As a first step, a student should contact the Chair or Director of their program to seek resolution of a complaint. Should the issue not be able to be resolved by the Chair or Director, the next step is to contact the Academic Dean:
Gale Gibson Gayle, Ed.D.
179 Livingston Street
Brooklyn, NY 11201
Phone: (718) 489-5240
If the Academic Dean is unable to resolve the matter, a formal grievance may be filed. In most cases, state complaint procedures require the student to exhaust all complaint avenues internal to the institution before a complaint can be filed at the state or accrediting agency level.
National Council for State Authorization Reciprocity Agreement (NC-SARA)
NC-SARA (SARA) is a voluntary agreement that allows states and institutions to offer distance education in other participating states so long as the institution adheres to certain quality and consumer protection standards. St. Francis College is an approved SARA institution and participating member. St. Francis College seeks to deliver all of our online programs to persons in states and territories that participate with SARA.
If a student is located in a SARA-participating state and plans to make a complaint about St. Francis College, complaints must first go through St. Francis College’s own procedures for resolution of grievances, stated above. If a student bringing a complaint is not satisfied with the outcome of the institutional process for handling complaints (except for complaints about grades or student conduct violations), the student may appeal the institution decision to the SARA State Portal Entity in New York State within two years of the incident about which the complaint is made.
The SARA portal entity in the state where the student is located will be notified that the complaint was received and may assist as needed. Resolution of the complaint by the SARA portal entity in the institution’s home state is final.
Please note that allegations of criminal offenses or alleged violations of a state’s general-purpose laws should be made directly to the relevant state agencies, not SARA. Only those complaints resulting from distance education courses, activities, and operations provided by SARA-participating institutions to students in SARA-participating states, come under the coverage of SARA.
Examples of issues that may arise in regard to alleged fraudulent activity, violations of SARA policies, or more general complaints about improper activities include: the veracity of recruitment and marketing materials; accuracy of job placement data; accuracy of information about tuition, fees, and financial aid; complete and accurate admission requirements for courses and programs; accuracy of information about the institution’s accreditation and/or any programmatic/specialized accreditation held by the institution’s programs.
You may find additional information about complaint procedures on the NC SARA website.
Students may also file a complaint with St. Francis College’s regional accrediting agency, the Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE):
Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE)
1007 North Orange Street
4th Floor, MB #166
Wilmington, DE 19801
Phone: (267) 284-5000