Saint Francis University
participates in Federal student aid programs that are authorized under Title IV
of the Higher Education Act of 1965. A participating institution must be
legally authorized to operate with the State in which it is located. Title 34
CFR §600.9 requires States to have a “process to review and appropriately act
on complaints concerning the institution including enforcing applicable State
laws.” Title 34 CFR §668.43(b) requires that institutions:
“make available for review to any enrolled or prospective
student upon request, a copy of the documents describing the institution’s
accreditation and its State, Federal, or tribal approval or licensing. The
institution must also provide its students or prospective students with contact
information for filing complaints with its accreditor and with its State
approval or licensing entity and any other relevant State official or agency that
would appropriately handle a student’s complaint.”
To comply with this regulation,
Saint Francis University provides the following information to our prospective
and current students.
Saint Francis University makes
every effort to resolve student complaints internally, using policies and
procedures outlined in the current University Catalog or Student Handbook. The
institutional complaint process for distance learning students is the same for
all students regardless of physical location. It is expected that students will
fully utilize any and all such administrative procedures to address concerns
and/or complaints in as timely a manner as possible. For procedures regarding:
If a
resolution cannot be reached following the Universities Student Complaint
Resolution process:
- Students residing in Pennsylvania: In
the unlikely event that an issue cannot be resolved through the institutional
complaint process, students residing in Pennsylvania should contact the Pennsylvania Department of Education, the applicable agency for oversight in
resolving complaints.
- Students residing outside of Pennsylvania: Saint
Francis University is approved to participate in the State Authorization
Reciprocity Agreement (SARA) which regulates
the manner in which participating institutions may offer distance learning
education to students who reside in other States. If a student has a complaint that
involves distance learning education offered under the terms and conditions of
SARA, the student must file a complaint with the institution first to seek
resolution. Complaints
regarding student grades or student conduct violations are governed entirely by
institutional policy and the laws of the SARA institution’s home State. If a
person bringing a complaint is not satisfied with the outcome of the
University’s internal process for resolving complaints, the complaint (except
for complaints about grades or student conduct violations) may be appealed,
within two years of the incident about which the complaint is made, to the
University’s SARA portal entity (Pennsylvania Department of Education). For purposes of this process, a complaint
shall be defined as a formal assertion in writing that the terms of this
agreement, or of laws, standards or regulations incorporated by the SARA Policies and Standards have been violated by the institution operating under
the terms of SARA.
For a list of SARA member States, please visit the NC-SARA website. Students residing in non-SARA States should consult the list
of non-SARA State agencies for further instruction for filing a complaint
in their respective State of residence.
Further information on SARA and the SARA complaint process:
Unresolved
complaints may be filed with the Middle States
Commission on Higher Education, the University’s regional accrediting agency, once all other avenues
provided by the University and the State agency or SARA have been exhausted.
The link above provides information on the Commission’s complaint policies and
procedures.
Middle States Commission on Higher Education
3624 Market Street, 2nd Floor West, Philadelphia, PA 19104
Telephone: (267) 284–5000
E-mail: info@msche.org Spanish: españolinfo@msche.org
General Link: www.msche.org
1/17/2017