Student Complaints

Overview

Santa Fe College seeks to maintain open avenues for students who wish to lodge complaints. To provide these avenues, the College maintains a responsive system designed to address and resolve student complaints. Students wishing to lodge a complaint on issues that do NOT include discrimination and harassment, grading, petitions and student conduct should follow the steps listed below up to resolution.

1st Action
If student is comfortable doing so, student should discuss complaint with the employee alleged to have caused the complaint within 10 business days of the incident. The employee is expected to seek to resolve the issue within 10 business days of the complaint by the student. If the complaint is not with a specific college employee but with an office, area, or any other college-related source that does not fall under a Rule indicated in Note 1, student shall contact the College Ombudsperson for guidance within 10 business days of the incident. If no resolution, proceed to 2nd Action.
2nd Action
Student shall submit a typewritten complaint to the immediate supervisor of the employee alleged to have caused the complaint, or other appropriate supervisor based on the subject of the complaint, within 10 business days from 1st Action. The typewritten complaint shall include a brief description of the complaint, action taken, and the requested resolution (up to 1-2 pages suggested).The supervisor shall respond within 10 business days in writing to the student. If no resolution, proceed to 3rd Action.
3rd Action
Student shall submit a typewritten complaint to the Assistant Vice President (AVP), Associate Vice President (AVP), or Director who maintains oversight of the division or unit of the supervisor involved in the 2nd action. The complaint must be submitted within 10 business of receipt of the response discussed in the 2nd action. The AVP/Director will engage in fact-finding and make a decision within 10 business days. The AVP/Director will provide a written response to the student. If no resolution, proceed to 4th/Final Action.
4th Action
Student shall submit typewritten complaint to the appropriate Vice President (VP). The VP will engage in fact-finding and issue a decision. The VP’s decision constitutes the final position of the College.

If, after exhausting this institutional Student Complaint Resolution Process, the complaint has not been resolved to the student’s satisfaction, the student may file a complaint with the Florida Colleges Division of the Florida Department of Education and/or the Southern Association for Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges. For more information on how to contact the Florida Department of Education regarding a complaint, students may access information at the following website: College Complaint Procedure Information.

Distance Education students who have completed the internal institutional grievance process and the applicable state grievance process, may appeal non-instructional complaints to the FL-SARA PRDEC Council. For additional information on the complaint process, please visit the FL-SARA Complaint Process page, which can be found at https://www.fldoe.org/sara/complaint-process.stml.

Official records of all written student complaints and written College responses subject to this procedure will be maintained by the Office of the Registrar.

This procedure governs complaints that do not fall within the scope of the College Rules listed below. If the nature of the complaint falls within the scope of a rule listed below, the procedure of that rule must be followed.

Relevant College Rules

For further information about informal and formal complaints and appeals, please see the relevant rules listed below:

Additional Resources

Florida Department of Education Resources

In addition to these venues and resources, students may seek direction from the FLDOE page devoted to student complaints, College Complaint Procedure Information. This site contains overviews of the complaint process and a list of the appropriate contact person at each Florida college and university who receives formal student complaints.

Federal regulations and State laws require that public colleges in The Florida College System have processes for students, employees, and applicants to file complaints against any respective college. In almost every situation, the college's process for resolving complaints must be followed first. Before contacting the State Division of Florida Colleges, please read your college's policies and procedures for filing complaints. Examples of where these can be found include:

Course catalogs
Student handbooks
Employee handbooks
College policy and procedure manuals
College websites

SACSCOC Resources

Information about filing a complaint with the College’s accrediting agency, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC), can be found on its website. Please note that the SACSCOC complaint process is not intended to be used to involve the Commission in disputes between individuals and member institutions or to cause the Commission to interpose itself as a reviewing authority in individual matters; nor does the policy allow the Commission to seek redress on an individual's behalf. The primary purpose of the SACSCOC complaint procedure is to acquire valuable information regarding an accredited institution’s possible non-compliance with accreditation standards, policies and procedures rather than to resolve individual disputes.