Student Complaint Information

When submitting complaints to regulatory bodies, there are different avenues for students completing their Guttman Community College education in New York State and those completing their Guttman Community College education outside of New York State through distance education (e.g. online courses or programs).

Guttman Community College students who have complaints that have not otherwise been resolved through contact with Guttman Community College internal offices may seek advisement from the appropriate office in the student’s state of residence, listed below.

Should a complaint not be resolved through processes and protocols defined by Guttman Community College or the student’s state of residence, the email address for Guttman Community College’s regional accreditor (Middle States Commission on Higher Education) is provided below (note: Guttman Community College does not maintain the state and territory websites, and information may change without Guttman’s knowledge).

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

Guttman Community College distance education students based outside of New York State who have a consumer-protection-based complaint regarding a distance education program should first seek to resolve such a complaint within Guttman Community College. Note that complaints regarding grades and general student conduct issues are not governed by this distance education complaint process.

Consumer-protection-based complaints should be made during the semester of occurrence, but must be made no later than the last day of the following academic semester.

The school offering the relevant distance courses or degree program will acknowledge receipt of the complaint within fifteen (15) days. If the student’s attempt at resolution is unsuccessful, the student may appeal the College’s decision regarding the student’s complaint to the Vice President of Academic Affairs and Provost at Provost@guttman.cuny.edu within fifteen (15) days of being informed of the decision. A decision on the appeal will be issued within sixty (60) days with any proposed remedy, where applicable.

Please note that anonymous complaints will not be addressed through this process.

If attempts to resolve the complaint and a subsequent appeal are unsatisfactory, a student residing in a SARA state may appeal the complaint to the SARA state portal entity in New York within two years of the incident about which the complaint is made.

The contact information for the SARA state portal entity in New York is:

Supervisor, Higher Education Programs
New York State Education Department
80 Washington Avenue
Albany, NY 12234
518.474.1551
IHEauthorize@nysed.gov

State contact information is listed through the SARA website found here.