Other Complaint Options

Students are encouraged to resolve concerns by contacting the campus office responsible for the area relevant to the complaint. If dissatisfied with the response, the student may contact the relevant area supervisor, director, department chair, or dean for resolution. The Ombudsman's role is to serve as a resource and designated neutral party for those who may have a college-related concern or grievance. The Ombudsman does not impose solutions, but does identify options and strategies for resolution by providing contact with appropriate college resources or serving as a mediator, among other roles.

For Distance Education Students, Monroe Community College (MCC) is a member of the National Council for State Authorization Reciprocity Agreements (NC-SARA) and follows the complaint resolution policies and procedures outlined within the SARA Policy Manual, summarized at SARA Student Complaints. Consumer protection complaints resulting from distance education courses, activities, and operations are also submitted through MCC’s Internal Complaints and Incident Reporting process.

The complaint process follows:

Start with the MCC Institutional Complaint Process

Submit your complaint to Monroe Community College through Complaints and Incident Reporting, using the form most appropriate to the nature of the complaint in accordance with the College’s Complaint Resolution Protocol.

State University of New York (SUNY) Complaint Procedure

If a student is dissatisfied with the campus-based resolution, a concern may be submitted to System Administration of the State University of New York (SUNY) through its Student Concerns, as outlined. The SUNY mailing address for such a purpose is State University of New York, System Administration, State University Plaza, Albany, NY 12246.

New York State Education Department (NYSED) Complaint Procedure

If still not satisfied, a complaint may be submitted, within two years of the incident about which the complaint is made, to the New York State Education Department (NYSED) through its Student Complaints process.

NC-SARA Compliant Procedure (Distance Education Students only)

Effective July 1, 2026, a student may submit a complaint to the SARA State Portal Entity of the state in which the student is located and this entity will provide to the student the contact information of the SARA office at the New York State Education Department.

Important limitations to understand:

This process is only for consumer protection issues (for example, see section 4 of the SARA Policy Manual).
This process does not include complaints related to grades or student conduct violations, both of which are to be addressed via non-SARA processes (see Complaints and Incident Reporting).

Who this applies to:

This process is only for distance education students located in another SARA-participating state (as of January 1, 2026, this includes all states except California)

Distance education students, including those located in New York State, should follow non-SARA processes through Monroe Community College’s campus-based complaint procedure (see Complaints and Incident Reporting and the College’s Complaint Resolution Protocol).

Middle States Complaint Procedure

Unresolved complaints may also be filed with the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, the College’s institutional accreditor, once all other avenues have been exhausted. For more information about filing a complaint with Middle States, including the criteria for complaint, see: Complaints and Third-Party Comments.