Student Grievance
Every student deserves a positive educational experience. But sometimes it may not be what they anticipate. In this case a student has the right to lodge a complaint or grievance about the school, faculty, or staff. These complaints must first be filed with the institution to seek resolution. The institution should ensure that all concerns and complaints of students are addressed fairly and are resolved promptly. Elyon College’s Student Grievance and Complaint Procedures can be found on Page 13 of the Elyon College 2026-27 Catalog.
If resolution is not found, the student should follow the institution’s home state complaint process. To learn more, please, go to: “Filing a Complaint About a College or University”: https://www.nysed.gov/college-university-evaluation/complaints
SARA – Student Complaint Process
An out of New York State student taking distance learning courses at New York State institution must follow the Complaint Process under the provisions of SARA (State Authorization Reciprocity Agreement). Since Elyon College is located in New York State and participates in NC-SARA, please use the following link to file a complaint about Elyon College: https://www.nysed.gov/college-university-evaluation/sara-student-complaint-process
SARA is an agreement among member states, districts and territories that establishes comparable national standards for the approval of interstate postsecondary distance education courses and programs. New York State joined SARA on December 9, 2016.
New York State institutions participating in SARA are authorized to conduct distance education activity in other SARA member states under the terms and provisions of SARA.
SARA Complaints are those that pertain to distance (online) education provided by New York State SARA participating institutions to students residing in another SARA participating state.
SARA consumer protection provisions require the institution’s home state, through its SARA State Portal Entity, to investigate and resolve allegations of dishonest or fraudulent activity by the state’s SARA-participating institutions, including the provision of false or misleading information.
The time limit for filing a SARA complaint is two years from the incident in question. Complaints about grades and student conduct cannot be heard under SARA policies.
Examples of Consumer Protection Issues
Examples of issues that may arise in regard to alleged fraudulent activity, violations of SARA policies or more general complaints about improper activities include, but are not limited to:
- 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;
- Accuracy of information about whether course work meets any relevant Professional Licensing requirements or the requirements of specialized Accrediting Agencies;
- Accuracy of information about whether the institution’s course work will transfer to other institutions; and
- Operation of distance education programs consistent with practices expected by institutional accreditors (and, if applicable, programmatic/specialized accreditors) and/or the C-RAC Guidelines for Distance Education.
For general information regarding the NC-SARA complaint process, please use the following link: https://www.nc-sara.org/sara-student-complaints-0
NOTE: OCUE must provide aggregate data on complaints to the National Council for State Authorization Reciprocity Agreements (NC-SARA). The public may view the NC-SARA Complaint Reports by State.
For more information on the NC-SARA Complaint policies, please visit the Section 4 of the SARA Policy Manual using the following link https://nc-sara.org/sara-policy-manual/