State Authorization

The State Authorization Reciprocity Agreement (SARA) is an agreement among member states, districts, and territories that establishes comparable national standards for interstate offering of postsecondary distance education. It is intended to make it easier for students to take online courses offered in other states, to give them confidence that programs in other states are properly authorized and thus to improve the quality of online education.

North Carolina is a member state of SARA, through the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB). Elizabeth City State University is a participating institution of SARA and authorized to offer distance education courses and programs to students located in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and U.S. territories.

At Elizabeth City State University, we make every effort to provide the best possible learning experience for all our students. We are committed to resolving student complaints in a fair and timely manner. This page provides procedures you should follow if you have an academic or non-academic complaint. Click here for a visual flow chart of these procedures. 

Please try to exhaust all avenues of complaint resolution within Eliabeth City University before going outside of the University.

While you are unlikely to experience issues at ECSU, you are welcome to review examples of issues that would warrant a complaint.

General Issues That Could Warrant a Complaint

While you are unlikely to experience issues at ECSU, you are welcome to review examples of issues that would warrant a complaint. Examples of issues that may arise regarding alleged fraudulent activity or more general complaints 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 (Please go to the Cost of Attendance Calculator to see the estimated cost of attendance for your program of study.)
• 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 bodies.
• Accuracy of information about whether the institution’s course work will transfer to other institutions. 
• 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.

Current and former students shall file a student complaint with the ECSU’s Dean of Students Office no later than one year after the student’s last date of attendance at the institution, or within 6 months of discovering the grounds for complaint, unless the cause of the delay in filing the student complaint form with the Agency was the complainant’s exhaustion of the institution’s grievance procedures.

Institutional Complaints should be forwarded to the Chancellors Office for further investigation.

Contact information relating to non-academic grievances can be found on the Safe ECSU website. (For Nature of Report, select Other).

To file a Student Complaint, please click on the link below.

ECSU Student Complaint Form

Step 1 – All Students (Excluding Military Affiliated Students; see below):

The initial responsibility for the complaint resides with the institution. Thus, your first step as a student, regardless of location, is to follow Grievance Procedure for Students Involving Students and University Employees. Student complaints and grievances can be submitted by using the Complaint Form.

Contact Information for Student Complaints and Grievance Process

Step 2 – Your Location Determines Your Next Step:

• Most Out-of-State Students: If your complaint is not resolved at the institutional level (Step 1), then out-of-state students residing in NC-SARA (National Council for State Authorization Reciprocity Agreement) states, which includes all states except California, may submit complaints to SARA-North Carolina. SARA-North Carolina operates under NCSEAA (North Carolina State Education Assistance Authority). Access the Complaint Form at SARA-North Carolina Student Complaint Process web page.

• Contact Information for NCSEAA c/o SARA North Carolina:
  SARA North Carolina
  c/o Student Complaints
  
  P.O. Box 41349
  Raleigh, NC 27629

Toll free: 855.SARA.1.NC (727.2162)
Local: 919.549.8614, ext. 4667
Fax: 919.248.6667
Email: information@saranc.org

Although students are required to file their complaints with SARA-NC, students can also submit a complaint to their home state as well. Students who reside in California must file a complaint against the institution in their home state of California.  Students living outside of North Carolina, also have the right to file a complaint in their home state as well. If you wish to file a complaint in your home state regarding an institutional complaint, please view your State Portal Entity Contacts.

• North Carolina Residents: If your complaint is not resolved at the institutional level (Step 1), then you may refer your complaint to the North Carolina Post-Secondary Education Complaint Process of the Licensure Division of the University of North Carolina System Office. The policy is at Student Complaint Policy; the complaint form is at Student Complaint Form.

Contact Information for North Carolina Post Secondary Education Complaints: